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GALA-DAY LUNCHEONS 



GALA-DAY 



LUNCHEONS 



A Little Book of Suggestions 



BY 



CAROLINE BENEDICT BURRELL 




> 5 5 > J 



'JIJ 3, >. 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAY. 11 1901 

COPYmCHT ENTRY 

CLASsOy^Xc. Urn. 

^-\^% 
COPY 8. 






Copijrtght, 1901 
By Dodd, Mead and Company 



All rights reserved 



Published May, 1901 



«^ '^ " c c "^c 



University Press, John Wilson 
and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. 



Thanks are due to Messrs. Harper and Brothers for 
their kind permission to use that part of this hook which 
has already appeared in Harper s Bazar. 



%Mt of Contents 



A 



Luncheon Giving .... 
A New Year's Luncheon . 
A Musical Luncheon 
A Japanese Luncheon for Children 
A Valentine's Day Luncheon . 
/ A AV'ashington Luncheon . . . 
A Shrove Tuesday Luncheon . 

Lenten Luncheon 

'A Saint 1'atrick's Day Luncheon 
A Christening Luncheox . . . 
An Easter Luncheon .... 
A Shakespearian Luncheon . . 
A May-Day Luncheon .... 
An Apple-blossom Luncheon 
A School-Girl Lunch kon . 
A Military Luncheon . . 
A Delkt Luncheon . . . 
A Bridal Luncheon . . . 
A Graduatks' Luncheon . 
A Rose Luncheon .... 
A Peony Luncheon . . . 
A Fourth of July Luncheon 
A Nautical Luncheon . . 



Page 

1 

19 

26 

30 

35 

44 

51 

54 

Gl 

Go 

70 

78 

88 

93 

97 

99 

103 

106 

113 

115 

118 

123 

129 



Contents 



Page 

A Traveller's Luncheon 134 

A Yale Luncheon 141 

A Harvard Luncheon 144 

A Princeton Luncheon 145 

A Pond-Lily Luncheon 146 

A Fern Luncheon 149 

A Poverty Luncheon 154 

A Golf Luncheon 156 

A Bicycle Luncheon 164 

An Alumni Luncheon 167 

A Labour-Day Luncheon 171 

A Tin-Wedding Luncheon 173 

A Hallowe'en Luncheon 179 

An Author's Luncheon 183 

A Thanksgiving Luncheon 188 

A Carmen Luncheon 193 

A Horse-Show Luncheon 197 

An Indian Luncheon 199 

A Card Luncheon 201 

A Christmas Luncheon 206 

A Snow Luncheon 215 

An Announcement Luncheon 218 



iList of illustrations 

Page 

For Luncheon Use 4 

Another Style of Doily 5 

HoNiTON Lace Doily 9 

Table set for a January Luncheon .... 21 

Musical Luncheon Favours 29 

For a St. Valentine's Day Luncheon .... 37 

A Washington's Birthday Favour 45 

Also for a February 22 Luncheon 49 

For a St. Patrick's Day Luncheon 57 

Potato Bonbon 62 

For an Easter Luncheon 71 

Easter Egg 74 

Easter Favour 75 

Ices in a Nest of Spun Sugar 76 

Easter Lily of Ice Cream 78 

Yellow-shaded Candle 85 

For a Mayflower Luncheon 89 

Basket of Cherries 92 

Filled with Candied Fruits 94 

Candy Basket 101 

For a June Bridal Luncheon 107 

For a Fourth of July Luncheon 121 

Ices served in Drums 127 



Illustrations 



Page 

For a Yalp: Luncheon 139 

IvOwiNG Favour 146 

Foil A Golf Luncheon 157 

Golf Favour 162 

For a Tin-Wedding Luncheon 175 

For a Thanksgiving Luncheon 189 

For a Christmas Luncheon 207 



TO give a Imiclieon is to indulge 
one's self in the most charming 
and satisfying form of entertain- 
ing. All the dignity of the stately dinner- 
party is lacking, it is true, but all the 
delight of informality is present ; one has 
opportunity and leisure to chat, to laugh, 
and to discuss the dainty and unsubstantial 
dishes beloved of women. That hostess 
is to be congratulated who can and does 
give her friends luncheons all the year 
around; whatever day she chooses be- 
comes at once a gala day. 

But after one has entertained, and en- 
tertained no matter how delightfully to 
her friends and how satisfactorily to her- 
self, there comes a time when for the 
moment she can think of nothing she has 
not had. All flowers seem ordinary, all 



Gala-Day Limcheons 



food wearisome. It is for such a day as 
this that this little book has been pre- 
pared. Not that new dishes are offered 
in a long, fascinating series, for all start- 
ling novelties or elaborate concoctions have 
been purposely eschewed: this is not a 
cook-book; it makes no such ambitious 
claim; the possession of a good cook- 
book, a supply of cooking utensils, a few 
canned goods and flavouring extracts, and 
access to a market of ordinary capacities, 
have all been taken for granted. But the 
ideas are intended to be practical, the 
food given in season and within reason- 
able price, and the recipes, whether given, 
as is sometimes the case, or merely al- 
luded to as easily to be found, are all 
sufficiently simple to be undertaken by a 
very ordinary and inexperienced cook. 

It is assumed that all hostesses are in 
possession of that priceless commodity 
which our grandmothers called '' faculty," 
that common-sense which more than 
anything else helps one over domestic 

2 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



boulders ; this will suggest that if white- 
bait is not to be had, canned salmon is 
quite within reach, and from that useful 
fish a toothsome dish may easily be pre- 
pared. If pim-olas are an unheard-of rel- 
ish, home-made pickles are by no means 
to be despised. If ice-cream in rose 
forms is entirely out of the question, 
raspberry ice made from one's own pre- 
serves or from the fresh fruit in the gar- 
den is fully as delicious. To assist one 
who is willing to take the second choice 
if she cannot have the first, a substitute 
has been offered for any course which it 
is suspected may prove difficult to procure 
in different parts of the country; an in- 
telligent hostess will easily be able to 
think of one that is even better than the 
one named. 

Rather elaborate menus are given that 
they may be adapted to one's need. It is 
easier to shorten a menu than to lengthen 
one, and two or three courses dropped 
from a company luncheon will transform 

3 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



it into one suitable for home use with 
very little trouble. If one menu is not 
quite what one wants, she can take an- 
other; if something more elaborate still 
is desired than what is given already, she 
can take a course from some luncheon 



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FOR LUNCHEON USE. 



farther on in the book ; as much variety 
as possible has been sought on purpose, 
that there may be opportunity for just 
this choice of dishes. 

The idea of observing holidays with 
luncheons is only a suggestion ; any one 
of the luncheons may, with slightly altered 
decorations, be given at any time during 

4 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the month. Doubtless every hostess can 
take the fancies given and work them out 
to her more complete satisfaction; it is 
intended that she should do so, for this is 




ANOTHER STYLE OF DOILY. 



not meant to be a complete compendium 
on luncheon given; it is only a "Little 
Book of Suggestions," nothing more. 
And now to something practical. 

The principal factor in a successful 
luncheon is a pretty table ; that remains 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



in one's memory after all the details of 
the luncheon proper have been forgotten. 
No cloth is used nowadays, but pretty 
doilies are laid on the bare surface ; where 
one has been so unfortunate as to have 
the appearance of her table ruined by the 
defacing marks of hot dishes, she often 
refuses to dispense with the tablecloth, 
yet if she knew what a very simple and 
inexpensive thing it is to have a fresh 
polish put on, she would doubtless send 
for the furniture dealer at once; even 
without the aid of that individual she can 
improve matters by applying a purchased 
polish, rubbing it in well with a flannel 
cloth ; indeed, rubbing is the secret of a 
handsome table top. Then, too, she prob- 
ably does not consider that when her 
doilies are in place, very little of the wood 
is exposed to the critical eye, while in 
that little is reflected the flowers and 
lights which give a double brilliance to 
the decorations. But if one is incorrigible 
and insists on a cloth in sp?te of all per- 

6 



Gala-Day Limcheons 



suasions, then the next-best thmg is to 
have a pretty one, one with openwork or 
lace, or at least with a handsome fringe, 
which will give some effect of elaboration. 
But doilies are so pretty, so much prettier 
than any cloth, no matter how beautiful ; 
they come in all sizes and at all prices, 
from the exquisite Honiton lace ones, 
which are almost too delicate to use, on 
to the combined linen and lace which are 
not expensive; from the cobwebs of 
drawn work from Mexico, which look as 
though they would fall to pieces if handled 
and which really wear a lifetime, to the 
plain squares of hemstitched linen, which 
are pretty enough for any table and can 
be made at home by the skilful needle- 
woman. One who can make even simple 
fancy work to-day can keep herself in 
lovely things for the luncheon table with 
small cost except in time. The same 
thing is to be said of the centrepiece : one 
can have anything almost, but it should 
be all in white. There are times when 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



one wishes an embroidered square or 
circle, but ordinarily white lace is the 
best choice, for the effect of the flowers is 
always better if no colour is mingled with 
their own. As to the flowers themselves, 
they should not be over-elaborate. Of 
course a woman of unlimited means may 
expend a vast sum on a basket of orchids 
or some other fashionable flowers for her 
table, but while it is desirable to have 
a pretty effect, all undue gorgeousness 
is out of harmony with the presumably 
informal meal. A woman who plans her 
table decorations herself will probably 
evolve something more original and more 
pleasing than the hackneyed result a 
florist would attain, should she summon 
him to her aid. A quantity of roses 
lightly grouped in a bowl or arranged in 
a basket has a grace which is not found 
in a merely conventional arrangement. 
There are artistic bunches of wild flowers 
which give delight whenever the eye falls 
on them, and clusters of ferns which on a 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



hot summer's day make one feel cool and 
comfortable. A pot of growing violets is 
a simple thing, but it is infinitely better 
than a " design " from a greenhouse. No 
one should despair if she cannot have 




HONITON LACE DOILY. 



a professional to help her arrange the 
flowers for her luncheon table; let her 
give thanks. 

There are combinations of flowers 
which give prettier effect than does one 
flower alone, such as jonquils and violets, 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



or white hyacinths, or mignonette and 
Roman hyacinths, or scarlet carnations 
and white roses. A httle study will 
enable the hostess to plan something 
unique and attractive. Indeed, her per- 
sonal touch is needed nowhere so much 
as here, since she can stamp her decora- 
tions with her individuality. 

Besides the flowers, a decorative effect 
is given to the table by the small dishes 
of silver, or silver-gilt, and cut glass, which 
stand around the centrepiece and hold 
salted nuts, bonbons, almonds, candied 
ginger, crystallised fruits, and often peeled 
radishes, celery hearts, and jelly as well. 
These are seen in silver with a stem three 
inches high for the daintier things, but 
any pretty bonbon dishes are correct form, 
whatever they are. 

After these things are in place, the silver 
is next to be considered : luckily the fash- 
ion of displaying all one happens to own 
is no longer considered in good taste ; it 
was always rather vulgar and savoured of 

10 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the shop, and no one can regret that the 
fancy has gone by. All that is needed now 
is the oyster fork, or, if fruit is to be the 
first course, a spoon or fork on the right, 
then the soup spoon, and either one or 
two knives as will be needed ; on the left 
either two or three forks ; the handsome 
dessert or ice cream spoon may lie across 
the top of the plate. There are always 
changes going on in table silver, yet good 
things are really never out of date. For 
instance, bouillon spoons have perfectly 
circular bowls at present, yet if one does 
not happen to own a set of these, tea- 
spoons do quite as well to use with small 
cups or bowls. So with salad forks ; the 
tines grow longer or shorter from season 
to season, yet any fork may be used for 
salad, whether intended for that particular 
course or not. Ordinary ice-cream spoons 
or forks are modified also; sometimes 
one sees a combination of the two, or 
a spade-shaped spoon is pronounced the 
only proper thing. Since every year 

11 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



brings out something new, the only safe 
rule for the housekeeper to observe is to 
buy things which are not extreme, and 
then use them with an easy mind, what- 
ever be the fancies of the day. 

The custom of having a decorated ser- 
vice plate at each place is such a good one 
that it is likely to remain long in vogue. 
It is intended to hold the oyster plate, 
the plate with the bouillon bowl if the 
latter has no saucer, and the plate with 
the first hot course, after which it is 
removed with the one that has been used. 
When the guests come to the table this 
service plate holds a roll folded in a 
napkin. 

Small bowls with two handles are used 
for the bouillon or soup at luncheon, but 
if one does not have them, an ordinary 
cup of rather good size is substituted. 
The plates used are ordinarily of rather 
smaller size than those seen at dinner, as 
the dishes are of a lighter character, and 
the handsomest are reserved for the finger- 

12 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



bowls, which are put on the table with 
the bonbons and coffee only, unless the 
meal begins with fruit, when they appear 
twice. 

The question of lighting the table is one 
that often puzzles young housekeepers or 
novices at entertaining. " Shall we use 
candles at luncheon f " they ask, bewil- 
dered at the seeming absurdity of the idea. 
At first thought it may seem that is a 
foolish thing to do, yet there is good rea- 
son for having them at certain times. In 
the city, especially in winter, the dining- 
room is apt to be dark and therefore 
gloomy, and the cheerful glow of candles 
is both attractive and hospitable. Be- 
sides, they are extremely decorative: in- 
deed, one sees them unlighted sometimes 
at formal luncheons when the day is 
sunny, used entirely for the colour they 
give the table. On the other hand, they 
should not be recklessly and indiscrimi- 
nately used, for there are days when they 
would be ridiculously out of place, as in 

13 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the summer, with open windows and a 
flood of brilliant light in the room. They 
are also out of place at a very simple 
meal to which only a few friends sit 
down, but they are in keeping with a 
rather elaborate com- 
pany luncheon, and on 
a table set for such a 
meal they are both 
beautiful and appro- 
priate. 

There are other 
pretty ways of lighting 
the table besides using 
candles; there are de- 
vices to be used where 
electricity is available, 
such as lovely little 
electric candles with rose shades which 
give the effect of real flowers ; then there 
are varieties of lamps, especially the so- 
called " fairy lamp," a pretty thing which 
is very practical as well as attractive; 
there are also combinations of the lamp 

14 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



and candle, which have in their favour the 
fact that they do not take fire and de- 
stroy their shades. But nothing is ever 
prettier than the old-fashioned wax can- 
dle in white or colour, in silver candle- 
sticks, with or without shades. Nothing 
gives such reflections on the dishes, the 
silver and glass, and the mirror-like sur- 
face of polished wood as their flickering 
lights. If one owns several of these, she 
has the foundation for endless variety. 
She may group them in twos, or stand 
them singly about the table, or she may 
buy a branched top and convert one into 
a candelabrum, or she may arrange several 
candelabra in the same way. 

As to shades, a clever woman can al- 
ways keep herself supplied with prettier 
ones than the shops can afford, provided 
she is skilful with the needle and paint 
brush. She can have them of plain 
pasteboard with a border in colours and 
a pattern of painted flowers, or a conven- 
tional design. Or, she can buy dozens of 

15 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



silk or cotton rose petals and make really 
beautiful things with them. Or, if she 
has plenty of money and no time to spare, 
she can buy almost anything, from simple 
shades of paper roses or chrysanthemums 
to imported arrangements made by artis- 
tic fingers in silk and flowers together. Un- 
less, however, she is prepared to buy a new 

set quite fre- 
quently, she will 
always invest in 
one or two more 
than she needs, 
lest some day 
she finds one 
burned and none to match it in the shops. 
Gruest cards are really necessary, — pri- 
marily, in order to avoid confusion in seat- 
ing a number of persons in a short time, 
but with a secondary reason for their exist- 
ence which is not to be overlooked : they 
enable the hostess to seat together those 
who have most in common and who will 
start the ball of conversation rolling, and 

16 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



keep it going. Many a meal lias proved 
stupid and tiresome to some one because 
she sat by an uncongenial fellow-guest ; a 
hostess shows her tact — or her lack of it 
— by the way she plans the seats of those 
who are to surround the table. 

As to favours, they are in no way es- 
sential; they are suggested here merely 
because they afford some opportunity for 
originality, and serve to break the ice at 
the very beginning of a meal. They are 
not for the older woman, who will doubt- 
less despise them, but for the girl-hostess 
who is gay enough still to care for what- 
ever raises a laugh. They should depend 
for their worth not on any intrinsic value, 
for they should have none, but on their 
cleverness, their appropriateness; those 
mentioned are only " suggestions;" every 
hostess should from these go on to others 
which have more to them. 

Just a word of warning as to the 
menu. Do not try and transform into 
a "function" what should be only a 

2 17 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



light and pleasant limcheon. The mo- 
ment that is done, and a demand is made 
for extreme thought and preparation on 
the part of the hostess, and formality on 
the part of the guests, that moment the 
whole affair becomes a weariness to the 
flesh and spirit, and the charm is gone. 
There is no limit to the number of 
courses a hostess may offer if she really 
sets out to show what she can do if she 
tries; every year gastronomic possibili- 
ties increase, and an ambitious woman 
may pile pates on croquettes, and salads 
on sherbets, and creams on top of every- 
thing else ad libitum^ if she so wishes. 
But a luncheon should be a luncheon, 
not a cooking-school display. It should 
be delightful to the eye, delicious to the 
palate, sufficiently elaborate to show re- 
spect to one's guests, and yet simple 
enough to be in good taste; restraint 
rather than ostentatious display should 
give the meal the refining touch which 
is needed to make it really complete. 

18 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



Bstnuarg 



BY a happy omen our year begins 
with a gala day; time was when 
the very mention of New Year's 
Day brought to our minds the thought 
of confusion and fatigue, but all that is 
past ; nowadays we observe the incoming 
of the year with quiet entertaining of our 
friends with small receptions, family din- 
ner-parties, and luncheons, more or less 
elaborate. It is not necessary, however, 
that all New Year luncheons should come 
on the very day itself, for one can have 
all the essential features at a meal given 
during the first half of the month. But 
whenever it comes, it should be a scarlet 
luncheon as far as the decorations are 
concerned, for January days are sure to 
be gloomy. For a large company a beau- 
tiful table can be arranged with a cen- 

19 



Gala-Day Luncheons 

tral mass of poinsettias in a gilded basket, 
scarlet candles, and something scarlet in 
the menu, just enough to emphasize the 
idea of the luncheon. If the table is a 
small one and the poinsettias are too large 
to be effective, have a bowl of scarlet car- 
nations with asparagus ferns, or put the 
flowers in a mound of moss. If you have 
silver candlesticks, — and they are the 
prettiest of all, — you can group them in 
twos, provided they are not too large, 
putting them at either end of an oblong 
table, or having three pairs if the table 
is round. It is always in keeping on a 
dark day to have the candles unshaded, 
the glow reflected on the polished sur- 
faces giving a peculiarly brilliant and 
cosy effect; if shades are preferred, of 
course they should be scarlet, like the 
candles. Put a quantity of small dishes 
about, containing olives, salted almonds, 
candied ginger or fruits, and bonbons; 
they are not only useful, but help to 
decorate the table. Use doilies in prefer- 

20 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



ence to a cloth, and a centrepiece of lace, 
or embroidered linen and lace. 

The obvious thing in the way of a guest 
card is a calendar, in some form ; if you 
sketch you can make one that is prettier 
and more characteristic than one that 
is purchased. A tiny calendar may be 
mounted on a square of cardboard with 
a small snow scene in the background, or 
a picture of Father Time may be placed 
above a quotation; or there may be an 
outline of an hour-glass above the calen- 
dar and the guest's name and the date of 
the luncheon below. 

MENU 

Oyster Cocktail. 

Green Pea Bisque. Croutons. 

Creamed Fish in Cucumbers. 

Quail on Fried Mush. Currant Jelly. 

Potato Puff. French Peas. Hot Kolls. 

Tomato Jelly in Forms. Mayonnaise. 

PiM-OLAs. Cheese Straws. 

Snowball Ices. Snowball Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

23 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



For the cocktail, select small oysters 
and pour over them a dressmg made by 
mixing two teaspoonfuls of horse-radish 
with the juice of two lemons, two tea- 
spoonfuls of tomato catsup and one of 
Tabasco sauce. This rule makes enough 
for five persons. Put eight oysters in a 
tall, shallow glass and cover with this 
dressing and put on the ice long enough 
to thoroughly chill them. The cocktail 
is also prettily served in ice-shells which 
are to be had of the caterer, or one can 
make them at home by piling up small, 
scalloped tins half filled with water and 
freezing; the tins will separate readily 
when they are slightly warmed. 

If one lives where cucumbers are pro- 
curable in January, a delicious dish is 
made by cutting off a slice from each cu- 
cumber, scooping out the inside, heating 
them, filling with a thick creamed fish, 
replacing the slice and serving hot. The 
combination of the fish and cucumber 
flavours is delightful. If one is away 

24 



Gala-Day Limcheons 



from the city markets, however, have a 
course of lobster cutlets with sauce tar- 
tare ill the place of this. The salad is 
one of the best and most attractive for a 
winter's day. It is made by heating, sea- 
soning, and straining the thick part of 
canned tomatoes and setting them with 
gelatine in small individual moulds, — 
little rings are pretty, — and when they 
are firm turning them out on the inner 
leaves of lettuce ; the inside of such a 
circle is to be filled with mayonnaise, or, 
if the jelly is in mounds, the mayonnaise 
is to be heaped around each and the 
whole sprinkled with chopped parsley. 

The ice cream can be furnished by the 
caterer in the form of perfect snowballs, 
which are attractive on a winter's day, 
especially with the cakes, but if they are 
not to be had a white cream served with 
maraschino cherries is delicious. The 
cakes are made by scooping out rounded 
spoonfuls from a large angels' food and 
dipping them first in warm, boiled frosting 

25 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and then rolling them in grated cocoanut. 
No sherbet is suggested for this lun- 
cheon, as one cold dish is enough for a 
January meal ; still, if you wish to make 
it rather more elaborate you can introduce 
a course of orange ice or Roman punch 
after the quail; or you may make a 
formal luncheon of it by changing it in 
several ways. 

MENU 

Oysters on the Half-Shell. 

Green Pea Bisque. Croutons. 

Lobster Cutlets. Sauce Tartare. 

Slices of Turkey-Breast. Currant Jelly. 

French Peas. 

Pineapple Sherbet. 

Quail on Toast. French Dressed Lettuce. 

Snowball Ices. Snowball Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

A MUSICAL LUNCHEON 

The twenty-seventh of January is Mo- 
zart's birthday, and this anniversary gives 
opportunity for entertaining a group of 

26 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



friends who have musical tastes, or pos- 
sibly a musical club. The guests might 
be asked to come at eleven o'clock, and a 
musicale might precede the luncheon. 

Lay the table very much as for the 
New Year's day luncheon, with red 
flowers, candles, and other decoration, and 
if you wish to emphasise the national 
colours of Grermany, 



J.CW.AM02ART 



\^^\\\\\{ \P\ 






Mozart' s home, have 
red and chocolate 
bonbons on the table 
and give each guest 
a little knot of red 
and white carna- 
tions tied with black ribbons. For cards, 
go to the printer and have him strike off 
small cuts of Mozart's head on squares of 
cardboard; all printers have cuts of dis- 
tinguished people, and they can be repro- 
duced for about a dollar a dozen. Just 
under the cut draw in pen and ink a bar of 
music from one of the composer's works 
with his name attached in tiny letters. 

27 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



At each plate may be one of the in- 
genious favours to be had at the confec- 
tioner's in the shape of a vioUn, a small 
piano, a banjo, a harp, or a mandolin. 
The ices may also be in these same 
shapes. 

MENU 

Grape Fruit. 

Clam Broth with Strips of Toast. 

Pigs in Blankets. 

Veal Cutlets, Breaded. 

Sweet Potato Croquettes. Asparagus Tips. 

Hot Polls. 

Cream Cheese Salad. Nut Sandwiches. 

Ice Cream in Forms. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The pigs in blankets are made by 
seasoning large oysters and folding each 
one in a very thin strip of bacon, pinning 
it with a small toothpick and browning 
in the frying-pan. The cutlets are to be 
cut in strips the size and shape of cro- 
quettes, breaded and fried. The asparagus 
served with this is, of course, canned. 
The salad is made by adding a little olive 

28 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



oil or cream to cream cheese, colouring 
it green with fruit colouring and mould- 
ing into balls the size of a hickory nut. 
These are to be laid on lettuce and a 
spoonful of mayonnaise added. A pretty 






MUSICAL LUNCHEON FAVOURS. 



change from the ordinary mayonnaise 
may be used with these green balls: a 
tablespoonf ul of unsweetened, condensed 
milk is used in place of the yolk of an 
Q^g] it is beaten, the oil and vinegar or 
lemon juice and seasoning added exactly 

29 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



in the same order and proportion as is 
usual; the result will be a stiff, foamy 
white mayonnaise. The sandwiches to 
serve with this salad are made of chopped 
English walnuts spread on bread and 
butter with just enough mayonnaise to 
moisten them. 



A JAPANESE LUNCHEON FOR 
CHILDREN 

Nothing could give children greater 
pleasure than a luncheon given for them, 
especially a Japanese luncheon, which 
affords opportunity for odd and pretty 
decoration3. The dining-room should be 
darkened and wires drawn across from 
side to side, fastened to the picture 
moulding; from these may be hung a 
dozen or more very small paper lanterns, 
some over the table and others about the 
room. In the centre of the table may 
stand two good-sized Japanese dolls, back 
to back, with a Japanese umbrella over 

30 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



them. Instead of the usual doilies or 
table-cloth, the table may be spread with 
delicate white Japanese paper napkins 
with lace borders, and about it may be 
scattered small metal trays, purchased at 
a curio shop, filled with candied ginger, 
candied orange peel, Japanese nuts, and 
various oriental sweets. At each plate 
may be a little lac- 
quer box filled with 
candy, and the ice 
cream maybe either 
in the forms of Jap- 
anese children or 
else a plain cream served in small scarlet 
tea boxes to be had also at the Japanese 
stores. The china used for this lunch- 
eon might be Japanese, to keep every- 
thing in harmony. 

The menu for a children's luncheon 
should be a very simple one if the 
children are young ; in this one the 
salad may be omitted if it is thought 
best. 

31 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Cream of Celery Soup. 

Scalloped Fish in Shells. 

Stewed Chicken. Potatoes. Peas. 

Bread and Butter Sandwiches. 

Celery Salad. Crackers. 

Ice Cream. Cakes. Cocoa. 

Japanese Nuts. 

This Japanese luncheon is quite pretty 
enough for children of a larger growth. 
With a more elaborate menu, decorations 
of artificial camellias or peach blossoms, 
and if it is desired to have it really orien- 
tal, Japanese costumes for both hostess and 
guests, it might be easily carried out very 
attractively. A menu which w^ould suggest 
Japanese cooking without actually follow- 
ing it might be something like this : — 

MENU 

Brown Soup with Forcemeat Balls. 

Fish, Baked in Shells with Chopped Pickle 

OVER IT. 

Chicken and Eice Stewed with Curry. 

Devilled Eggs on Lettuce. Mayonnaise. 

Ice Cream in Japanese Boxes. 

Tea. Candied Ginger. Japanese Nuts. 

32 



Gala-Day Ltmcbeons 



Another luncheon which small chil- 
dren would enjoy hugely would be one 
in which everything suggested their 
friend Alice of Wonderland. The table 
should be laid as for an ordinary lunch- 
eon, and in the centre should be a mass 
of green with the hero of the book, the 
White Rabbit himself, standing erect in 
the middle, dressed as in the familiar fron- 
tispiece, in a plaid coat and waistcoat, 
holding a watch. Each child should have 
a card with its name and a sketch of one 
of the familiar characters in the story, such 
as the Mock Turtle, the Dormouse, the 
March Hare, the White Queen or Humpty 
Dumpty, with one of their famous sayings 
written beneath. All the candies on the 
table should be in the shapes of animals ; 
animal crackers should be served with the 
cocoa, and if possible the ice cream should 
be in the shape of white rabbits. 

Children's luncheons depend for their 
success, not so much on an elaborate 
menu or handsome decoration of flowers, 

3 33 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



as on small, ingenious devices which 
appeal to them. Anything which seems 
to their unsophisticated souls novel or 
beautiful will give infinite pleasure and 
will never be forgotten. Such a decora- 
tion as was used for a dinner-party at the 
White House not many years ago might 
well be reproduced for a child's luncheon 
with the assurance that it would be a 
great success. 

A long, narrow pan of water stood on 
an oblong table, the outside completely 
hidden by small, growing ferns, planted 
in moss. In the centre of the pan was a 
miniature rockery, a pile of stones the 
size of one's fist, with these same ferns 
planted in all the crevices. But the 
charming thing was a little flock of china 
ducks, geese, swans, and tiny yellow gos- 
lings which floated on the surface of this 
small lake, moving somewhat as the table 
was stirred more or less by the restless 
guests. This arrangement for a children's 
party would be irresistible. 

34 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



THIS month brings the two most 
important gala days of the year, 
and gives therefore the best pos- 
sible opportmiity for entertaining at 
luncheon. Then, too, this is the time 
when every one is giving teas, dinners, 
and social affairs of all sorts and the 
sense of gaiety is inspiring to all host- 
esses. In cities the spring flowers, fruits, 
and vegetables begin to come in with 
this month, and there ample scope is 
given for a fresh and delicious menu. 
Of course, where one has no access to 
large markets she must content herself 
with the usual winter foods, yet with a 
little ingenuity she can give the impres- 
sion of a spring-like meal, using the re- 
sources at her command. 

A luncheon on Valentine's Day is one 
of the prettiest possible, for the profu- 

35 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



sion of flowers which might be excessive 
at another time is quite the proper thing 
now, and the accessories of the occasion, 
the ribbon bows, the cupids, the heart- 
shaped cakes and ices all make the table 
attractive. Lay it as daintily as possible 
with your most elaborate doilies, your 
prettiest candle-shades, and all your odd 
little dishes of silver. Of course, pink is 
the colour to choose, and the more pink 
roses you can have, the better. A very 
beautiful table which will suggest the 
day at first sight is set with five tall 
slender glass vases, one in the centre and 
four grouped around it at intervals filled 
with roses. This arrangement really 
takes no more flowers than is required 
for one large bunch, but the effect is of 
far more. The florist will sell or rent to 
you a large snow-white dove, the emblem 
of Venus, which can be suspended from 
the ceiling with an invisible wire; you 
can tie a number of narrow pink ribbons 
to his feet, or to his bill, and draw them 

36 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



down to the table, fastening two or three 
by each plate with a pink rose. If you 
have a large bisque Cupid it will do quite 
as well as the dove, and if you prefer to 
use vines instead of ribbon, these will 
form a sort of bower under which the 
meal is served. Put the central vase on 
a lace centrepiece laid over pink silk, 
and if your doilies are of lace they, too, 
may be lined with pink for this one 
occasion. There are candle-shades made 
of small paper roses which are very inex- 
pensive and pretty, and these may be 
used with pink candles in silver sticks. 
If you fancy the idea, large pink satin 
bows laid on the corners of the table, if 
it is a square one, or at intervals if the 
table is round, add to the colour. Fill 
your bonbon dishes with small heart- 
shaped candies, pink-iced cakes of the 
same shape, and candied rose leaves, in 
addition to those filled with the usual 
olives and salted almonds. 
Your guest cards will of course be 

39 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



valentines, and you can buy them in 
any variety and at any price, but the 
most appropriate are those painted with 
old-fashioned figures, or with Watteau- 
like groups. Of course, if these valen- 
tines are on heart-shaped cardboard they 
are still better; it is easy for one who 
paints in water-colour to decorate such 
pieces of board with figures and an ap- 
propriate rhyme or a quotation, adding 
the name of the guest and the date of 
the luncheon. Besides these cards, there 
are boxes in heart shapes of all prices, 
from the plain ones which need the ad- 
dition of sketches, to those of satin 
which come from Paris and cost a small 
fortune. The plainer boxes may take 
the place of guest cards, and so serve a 
double duty; in any case, the boxes may 
be filled either with tiny candy hearts 
or with rose leaves such as are in the 
small dishes. 

The sandwiches served with the meal 
are of course to be cut out with a heart- 

40 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



shaped cutter, as are the cakes, and the 
latter should have small silver arrows 
stuck through each of them. 

MENU 

Clams on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Spinach Soup with Whipped Cream. 

Whitebait. Brown Bread and Butter. 

Chicken Mousse. Stoned Olives. 

Chops with Peas. Bermuda Potatoes. 

Grape Fruit Salad. Cheese Sandwiches, 

Ice Cream Hearts. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The cream of spinach soup is made by 
cooking the vegetable until very tender, 
pressing it through a sieve and adding 
hot, thickened milk; a little whipped 
cream is to be put in the bouillon cups 
before the soup is poured in. The 
whitebait is one of the most delicious 
things in our winter markets ; it is a very 
tiny fish of delicate flavour, and while it 
is rather expensive at first thought, it is 
not so in reality, for it is so light that a 

41 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



pound goes a long way. It is cooked 
after being dredged with flour, by frying 
for only a moment in a wire basket in 
hot fat, and served with a bit of lemon on 
rounds of lace paper; brown bread and 
butter in thin strips is passed with it. If 
it is not to be had, and of course outside 
a city it is difficult to obtain, lobster 
Newburgh, made from the canned fish, is 
an excellent substitute. About a pint of 
the meat is needed for eight persons; a 
half-pint of cream is put on the stove 
with the yolks of two well-beaten eggs ; 
when it thickens the lobster is added, 
then the seasoning and last a dash of 
sherry, and it is served in ramekins or 
paper cases. 

The chicken mousse is a cold dish, 
made by chopping and pounding the 
cooked white meat of chicken until it is 
a paste, seasoning, and adding enough 
chicken stock in which gelatine has been 
dissolved to thoroughly moisten it; it is 
then whipped with an egg-beater until 

42 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



light, pressed in a pan, and allowed to 
harden; sometimes in addition to the 
stock a half cup of whipped cream is 
mixed in, and this is an improvement to 
the ordinary rule for making it. When 
it is to be used it is sliced and cut out in 
heart-shaped pieces; two stoned olives 
are put on the plate with each piece, or, 
if you prefer it, a spoonful of sauce 
tartare. 

The ices may be of strawberry cream 
or of raspberry ice or a mixture of both, 
they are to be heart-shaped, as has been 
said, and each one should have a sugar 
arrow stuck through it. If you prefer 
roses to hearts, these should be laid on 
lace papers. If this course must be pre- 
pared at home, the cream can easily be 
coloured a rose tint w4th fruit colour, and 
a spoonful served in a dainty little box 
made of pasteboard covered with rose 
crepe paper, cut to resemble petals of 
the flower, tied with ribbons to match. 



43 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY LUNCHEON 

The twenty-second of February sug- 
gests that an ahnost unhmited amount of 
ingenuity may be spent in preparing a 
meal in honour of the Father of our 
Country. There is opportunity for dec- 
oration such as few gala days offer, and 
this may easily be the prettiest luncheon 
of the year. 

If the meal is an informal one a centre- 
piece may be arranged which will amuse 
the guests. Get at the florist's a small 
dead plant, such as an azalea, and pick 
off some of the twigs, making a symmetri- 
cal tree of diminutive size. At a Japan- 
ese shop you can buy the pretty artificial 
cherry blossoms used to set off the bric~a 
brae in the windows, and these can be 
fastened to the twigs with invisible wire, 
the little tree may stand in a low pot 
filled with moss, and at its base may be a 
small hatchet. With this, your candle- 
shades should be a sort of rosy white. 

44 



Gala-Day Ltincheons 



You might use in preference to this a 
bunch of the cherry branches in a vase in 
the centre. 

Or, if you prefer to have the Colonial 
colours, choose a large dark-blue bowl 
and fill it with yellow tulips, and have 



^^^^1^ 



A WASHINGTON S BIRTHDAY FAVOUR. 

all the dishes, or at least several sets of 
plates, of dark-blue ware ; if one does not 
own Staffordshire of her grandmother's 
or the beautiful Chinese Canton china, 
still she need not despair, for the shops 
are full of a cheap and pretty imitation 

45 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



of the latter which gives an admirable 
effect. The candle-shades should be 
yellow, in tulip pattern preferably, and 
the candlesticks of old-fashioned silver. 

At each plate 
lay a bonbon 
box in the form 
of a paper hat- 
chet with the 
handle filled 
with red and 
white candies, 
and tie a bunch 
of artificial 
cherries to it with narrow ribbon. You 
can get at the printer's cards with the head 
of Washington which a line of gold paint 
and a bowknot will transform into a minia- 
ture. Fold your napkins into little cocked 
hats, and stand small silk flags in your 
dishes of almonds and olives. In addition 
to all this, you can send to Mount Vernon 
for small souvenirs in the shape of hatch- 
ets, supposably made of the actual his- 

46 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



toric cherry-tree, which may take the place 
of the paper hatchets at the plates. 

Should your luncheon be given for the 
members of some patriotic association, 
you might add 
the name of 
some famous 
Revolutionary 
battle to your 
guest cards, or 
possibly a quo- 
tation from 
some well- 
known novel 
which has historic characters, such as 
''Richard Carvel" or "The Virginians." 

MENU 

Grape Fruit with Brandied Cherries. 

Cream of Chicken Soup. 

Smelts with Sauce Tartare. 

Fried Sweetbreads. Mushroom Sauce. 

Carrots in Cases. Bermuda Potatoes. 

Celery and Cabbage Salad in Peppers. 

Ice Cream Hatchets. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

47 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



Cut the grape fruit in half and remove 
the seeds and core, loosen the pulp 
around the sides and put in the cavity 
in the middle a couple of preserved or 
brandied cherries, with a little of their 
juice. The soup is a strong chicken 
stock to which cream has been added; 
a spoonful of whipped cream is put on 
top of each cup as it is served, and hot 
crackers are passed with it. 

Put a little water-cress on the plate 
with the smelts as well as the sauce. 

Sweetbreads are especially good with 
both mushrooms and carrots, though one 
does not often see the latter vegetable 
with them, but creamed, in small paper 
or paste cases, they are by no means to be 
despised, above all, if they are the new 
ones which have just come to market. 

The salad is made by cutting off the 
tops of green peppers, removing the seeds 
and filling them with shredded celery and 
cabbage with stiff mayonnaise, and serv- 
ing on lettuce ; if the peppers are not to 

48 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



be had, the salad may be put directly on 
the lettuce. The cheese straws are made 
by sprinkling thin strips of pie-crust with 
red pepper and grated cheese, twisting a 
little and browning in the oven. 




ALSO FOR A FEBRUARY 22 LUNCHEON. 

The ice cream hatchets must come 
from the caterer; they are extremely 
realistic with the initials Gr. W. on their 
handles, and add greatly to the gaiety of 
the occasion; but if they are not to be 
had, the hostess can serve in their place 

4 49 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



a plain cream in little cocked hats, or 
have it sliced with a few preserved or 
brandied cherries on each slice. The 
bonbons passed with the coffee may be 
one or more kinds of candied cherries to 
be fonnd in great variety at the confec- 
tioner's. 

A still more elaborate menu might be 
this one: — 

MENU 

Grape Fruit with Cherries. 

Cream of Chicken Soup. 

Fried Oysters with Sauce Tartare. 

Chicken Croquettes with Peas. 

Sweetbreads, Mushroom Sauce. 

Carrots in Cases. Bermuda Potatoes. 

Cherry Sherbet. 

Celery and Cabbage Salad in Green Peppers. 

Ice Cream Hatchets. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The sherbet course is exceedingly pretty. 
The ice is made from home-made candied 
cherries and put in glass sherbet cups 

50 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



with a little bunch of artificial cherries 
tied to the handle with green ribbon the 
colour of the leaves. 



A SHROVE TUESDAY LUNCHEON 

Shrove Tuesday conies the day before 
Lent begins, and there is always much 
gaiety on hand by way of a temporary 
farewell to festivities. The old custom 
of serving pancakes on this day should 
not be forgotten in planning one's menu 
for the gala day meal; true, they are 
certainly an unusual dish for luncheon, 
but they should by no means be omitted. 

There is a very beautiful and odd deco- 
ration to be made with delicate white 
flowers and tiny white candles, which 
can be arranged with little trouble. 
Have a low mound of moss for a founda- 
tion with a border of maiden-hair fern; 
stand Roman hyacinths or lilies of the 
valley in this, not too near together, with 
the candles between, having first inserted 

51 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



a toothpick in the bottom of each and 
had them on the ice over night to prevent 
them from melting too soon. Keep all 
the colour on the table green and white, 
— the candles, the china, if possible, and 
the ice cream. The pancakes should be 
made very large, one covering the whole 
griddle, spread with jelly, rolled, and 
sprinkled with sugar. One, or at most 
two, should serve a tableful of guests. 

MENU 

Bouillon. 

Oysters on Skewers. 

Chops and Peas. French Fried Potatoes. 

Asparagus Tips with Mayonnaise. 

French Pancakes. 

PisTACHE Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The oysters are to be rather small, and 
put on skewers with bits of thin bacon 
alternating, and fried quickly till crisp ; 
serve on toast with lemon. This is an 
easily prepared and delicious dish and 

52 



Gala-Day Luncheons 

one which makes a good substitute for 
any other suggested in any winter lun- 
cheon which is not within reach. Serve 
the ice cream in cases of white candy, 
or white cream in green cases, or use 
whipped cream as a bed around either 
ice cream if cases are not to be had. 

Lincohi's birthday comes early in Feb- 
ruary, and a patriotic luncheon can 
easily be arranged for that from the sug- 
gestions already given for Washington's 
birthday. Patriotic affairs admit little 
variation; red, white, and blue ribbons 
and flowers, ice cream in paper boxes 
with red and white stripes, and cards 
with suitable inscriptions are about all 
one can have by way of appropriate 
decoration. 



53 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



iHarcft 



WITH March comes a lull in the 
social world. Lent holds sway, 
whether one professes to ob- 
serve it or not. Dinners, receptions, 
dances, are all postponed for a time, 
and quiet teas and luncheons are the ac- 
cepted forms of entertaining. A Lenten 
luncheon gives opportunity for a meal 
without meat, one which may be a pleas- 
ant change from the usual menu, and 
still will not suggest a fast. 

A LENTEN LUNCHEON 

For this no colour is so appropriate as 
violet, and luckily this is the month 
when the flower itself appears most plen- 
tifully in market. In arranging the 
table it may be well to depart for once 

54 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



from the rule of having all the linen in 
white, and use any violet-embroidered 
pieces you happen to have. Such a 
centrepiece is especially pretty, under 
the real flowers, and violet and white 
china, if you have it, will make an at- 
tractive table. In the centre have a bas- 
ket of rough green straw tied with 
ribbons of violet, and filled with a mass 
of the flowers arranged to look like one 
large, loose bunch, but really in a quan- 
tity of small bunches which are to be 
given to the guests as they leave the 
table at the close of the meal, unless you 
prefer to have a knot of the flowers at 
each place, tied with narrow ribbons. 
This giving of individual bunches of 
flowers at the beginning of the meal, al- 
though always a graceful and pretty cus- 
tom, is not seen just now as much as 
formerly. 

If you use candles, have them of vio- 
let, with plain violet shades edged with 
the flowers sewed to the paper or silk 

55 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



foundation; or else have plain shades of 
heavy paper painted with wreaths of the 
flowers. Your cards may match these, 
being squares of cardboard almost cov- 
ered with a wreath of violets, with a 
bowknot painted on it, and the name of 
the guest written across the flowers. 
Your bonbon dishes may be filled with 
candied violets and other violet-tinted 
sweets. 

MENU 

Oysters ox the Half-Shell. 

Bouillon. 

Halibut Timbales with Lobster Sauce. 

Salmon Croquettes with Peas. 

Shad with Eoe. New Potatoes. Cucumbers. 

Violet Cabbage Salad. 

Brown Bread and Butter. Olives. 

Violet Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

If shad is not in market as yet, though 
it should be in March, use any broiled 
fish ; if white fish is obtainable, nothing 

56 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



is nicer, especially if it is planked. The 
salad is an odd one; a head of purple 
cabbage is taken, the leaves turned back 
and the centre cut out ; a white cabbage 
is shredded and mixed with as much 
shredded celery and stiff mayonnaise, 
and this is put into the purple cabbage 
head, and it is passed on a round platter 
to the guests. 

The ice cream is a plain one coloured 
violet with fruit colour ; it is put in a cir- 
cular border mould and turned when 
firm out on a bed of whipped cream ; the 
centre of the mould is heaped with this 
same whipped cream, and over the whole 
a quantity of candied violets is sprinkled. 
On the edge of the platter a wreath of 
natural violets is arranged with their 
leaves, making a really beautiful dish. 
If this seems too elaborate, or if the 
flowers are not abundant, fill meringue 
shells with the violet cream and tie two 
together with narrow violet ribbon and 
lay on rounds of lace paper on each 

59 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



plate; the cream should rather more 
than fill the shells. 

If you prefer a menu with less fish and 
some meat, this would do : — 

MENU 

Oranges. 

Bisque of Oyster Soup. 

Halibut Timbales with Shrimp Sauce. 

Chicken and Pim-olas in Cases. 

Sliced Breast of Duck. Currant Jelly, 

Potato Eoses. 

Apricot Sherbet. 

Sardine Salad. Mayonnaise. 

Violet Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The oranges are to be prepared as was 
the grape fruit ; that is, the pulp is loos- 
ened from the sides after a thick slice 
has been cut from the top, the core is 
taken out, and powdered sugar and 
sherry, if you use it, put in. The 
creamed chicken has chopped pim-olas 
added to it to give a delicious flavour. 

60 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



The salad is an aspic with one sardine 
embedded in each small mould. The po- 
tato roses are made by pressing mashed 
potato through a tube in spirals, and 
browning in the oven. 

Sometimes one is moved to give a 
luncheon '' Just for fun," on some gala 
day which suggests that informality will 
be in keeping with its atmosphere. Of 
course one invites to such a meal only 
such of one's friends as will appreciate 
the spirit in which the luncheon is given; 
nothing is more discouraging than to 
have one's little jokes fall flat, as they 
are sure to, unless all are in sympathy. 

A ST. PATRICK'S DAY LUNCHEON 

requires kindred spirits to really enjoy it. 
Of course the meal should be carried 
out in green, Ireland's colour, and potato 
salad should be one of the distinctive 
Irish dishes. Have a white and green 

61 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



centrepiece, and if you have any green 
and white china have it conspicuously 
used, and for decoration get from the 
florist a wire harp, typical of that which 
" Once thro' Tara's halls," and cover its 
frame and strings with delicate green 
vines, letting their ends trail on the 

table. Stand 
small green flags 
among your can- 
dies and olives, 
and have pista- 
che nuts among 
the salted alm- 
onds. If you 
use candles, have them green with their 
shades decorated in shamrock, which is 
like a small clover. For cards use the 
same thing, painted in little bunches tied 
with ribbon, or have a sketch of a typi- 
cal Irish peasant, or of a tiny white- 
washed cottage with vines as one sees 
so many in Ireland. Under the name of 
the guest put a quotation from Moore, 

62 




POTATO BONBON. 



Gala-Day Luncheons 

^ ^ ^ . 

the poet of the country, the more fami- 
Har the better. Have your bonbons in 
the form of small potatoes, or else give 
each person one of the bonbon boxes 
which look exactly like large Irish pota- 
toes, and fill it with green candies. 

MENU 

Grape Fruit. 

Cream of Green Pea Soup. 

Shad Eoe with Sauce Tartare. 

Chops, with Peas and Bermuda Potatoes. 

Lemon Sherbet in Lemon Baskets. 

Potato Salad. Lettuce Sandwiches. 

Pi ST ACHE Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee. 

There is just enough green about this 
meal to suggest the day, without trying 
to have the whole in the colour, a thing 
seldom seen now, though not long ago it 
was thought a very pretty fancy. 

This potato salad is a very delicious 
one, not to be despised because of its 
plebeian name. It is made by mixing 

63 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



equal parts of cold boiled potatoes cut 
into cubes with olives in rather large bits 
and blanched English walnuts, the whole 
covered with a stiff mayonnaise. The 
sandwiches passed with this are made by 
spreading thin slices of bread and butter 
with leaves of lettuce and mayonnaise, 
rolling them and tying with a narrow 
green ribbon. 

The ice cream may be either a melon 
mould of French cream covered with a 
thick layer of pistache, or else a brick 
of the pistache with a centre of lemon 
ice. The little cakes should be iced with 
green. 

QUOTATIONS FROM MOORE 

" When friends are nearest, when joys are dearest, oh, 
then remember me." 

" Here still is the smile that no cloud can o'ercast. 
And a heart and a hand all thine own to the last." 



" You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 

es ^ 

64 



But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



Ob, there are looks aud tones that dart 
An instant sunshine through the heart. ' 



" There 's nothing half so sweet in life as love's young 
dream." 



A CHRISTENING LUNCHEON 

The day that the baby is christened is 
surely a gala day, and one that admits a 
very dainty and beautiful luncheon after 
the service. Of course the colour of the 
decorations, whether in the parlours or 
the dining-room, should be white, and 
the flowers should be the delicate ones 
suggestive of- childhood, such as white vio- 
lets, Roman hyacinths, lilies of the valley, 
and daisies ; these should be mingled with 
asparagus fern and other airy green, 
and used as lavishly as one's purse will 
permit. On the table spread for the 
luncheon there should be only white dec- 
orations. For this occasion it is more 
appropriate to use a cloth of plain damask 
or heavy linen and lace rather than the 

5 . 65 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



usual doilies, the centrepiece being of 
lace. If candles are used, they should be 
white with shades of silver ; the appoint- 
ments of the table should be, as far as 
possible, of glass, and all the bonbons and 
other decoration of white, such as candy 
baskets filled with crystallised fruits. 

The centrepiece may be a wicker cradle 
painted white and tied with white ribbons, 
filled with delicate flowers and asparagus 
ferns, and the ices may be in cradle shape 
also. 

MENU 

Cream of Corn Soup. 
TiMBALE OF Halibut in Melon Shape. 

Lobster Sauce. 

Chicken Breasts with Celery Sauce. 

Potato Balls. 

Orange Sherbet. 

Sweetbreads in Aspic with White Mayonnaise. 

Ices in Forms. Angels' Food. 

Coffee with Whipped Cream. 

The fish is prepared by putting a pound 
and a half of boiled halibut through a 

66 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



sieve, adding a teacup of whipped cream, 
seasoning, and the whites of five eggs 
well beaten ; the whole is put in a buttered 
mould and steamed for half an hour, 
turned out on a round platter with the 




lobster sauce around it, and passed. The 
sauce for the chicken is made by pressing 
stewed celery through a sieve, adding 
seasoning and thickening. Stewed celery 
may be served with the chicken in place 
of this sauce. 

67 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The sweetbreads are cleaned, blanched 
by throwing in cold water when taken 
from that in which they have been 
boiled, and cut in bits; they are then 
seasoned and put in small moulds and as- 
pic, or melted beef extract, and dissolved 
gelatine is poured over them. When 
they are served they are put on lettuce 
leaves and a white mayonnaise is put by 
the side of each. 

The cream may be in the form of 
cradles, as has been suggested, or a white 
cream may be served in spun sugar cases, 
or, if neither of these is to be had, a 
plain cream may be served in slices with 
whipped cream around each. The cake 
should be passed in a large iced loaf, and 
the coffee should have a spoonful of 
whipped cream on top. 

With the last course a large silver tray 
may be carried around the table with a 
mass of white roses and asparagus fern 
on it, which proves to separate readily 
into individual roses, each one holding 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



a tiny card bearing the name of the 
newly named baby, which the guests will 
doubtless like to preserve as souvenirs of 
the day. 

To alter this menu a trifle for those 
who do not fancy a sherbet and a cream 
in the same luncheon, have for dessert 
small moulds of whipped cream set with 
gelatine, filled with chopped almonds 
and flavoured with sherry ; serve a spoon- 
ful of whipped cream with each. This 
is a good dish and one that is easily pre- 
pared, and may be substituted in any 
luncheon for the suggested cream when 
that is not just what is wanted. 



69 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



^pril 



APRIL brings many other good 
things beside the showers typi- 
cal of the month; summer now 
begins to declare itself, and flowers, 
fruits, and fresh vegetables are in season. 
Easter usually comes in April, and brings 
not only a religious festival but a gala 
day as well, for Easter Monday is holiday 
time the world over. To keep it hospit- 
ably, let us have an 

EASTER LUNCHEON 

For this, no flowers are so appropriate 
as jonquils, for they are the colour of 
spring sunshine, and have a suggestion 
of gaiety all their own. They do not 
lend themselves to any arrangement other 
than the massing of them in a bowl, but 
they do blend well with violets; and if 

70 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



your luncheon is very elaborate, the two 
may be used, the jonquils in the centre 
and the violets in a wreath around the 
bowl, or in smaller bowls about the table. 
A mahogany table is at its best with 
yellow flowers, each setting off the other ; 
but whatever the table, lay it with doi- 
lies; if you have a yellow and white 
centrepiece, use it, but if not, choose a 
white one. Candles are not to be used 
in summer weather, unless, as one some- 
times sees them by way of decoration, 
they are unlighted. 

In addition to your little dishes of rad- 
ishes, almonds, candied ginger, and other 
relishes on the table, have some filled 
with Easter eggs in candy. Each guest 
may have a tiny, downy chicken at her 
plate, such as fill the shops at this season, 
or if you prefer, a box in the shape of an 
Q.g^, filled with bonbons, or rather candy 
eggs. These boxes come in all prices, 
ranging from a few cents for those of 
plain cardboard to the expensive ones in 

73 



Gala-Day Luncheons 




EASTER EGG. 



satin which are imported and cost an 
alarming sum ; one will have no trouble 

in finding some- 
thing pretty with- 
^^^^ «i^ ^^ ^^^ means. 

Y J^^r -»^ ^y The ice cream 

^ ' ' for an Easter lun- 

cheon may be very 
attractive ; it comes 
in various Qgg forms from the caterer, but 
the prettiest is that which is in small eggs 
of ice and cream, in different sizes, served 
in a nest of spun sugar of a straw colour. 
There is also a large form in which a 
hen sits on a larger nest of the same 
sort with little chickens peeping from 
under her wings, but this is rather too 
elaborate for a luncheon. If all caterers' 
forms are out of reach, the best substi- 
tute is made by serving rounded spoon- 
fuls of a very yellow cream as nearly 
like eggs as possible. The menu for the 
luncheon should consist principally of 
chicken and eggs in different styles. 

74 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Clams on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Chicken Soup. 

Green Peppers Filled with Creamed Salmon. 

Patties of Sweetbreads and Mushrooms. 

Chicken in Eice Border. New Potatoes. 

Lemon and Peppermint Ice. 

Egg Salad. Cheese Straws. 

Ice Cream in Egg Forms. Cake. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The peppers are prepared by cutting 
off the small ^iicl and filling them with 
creamed salmon, 
heating them in the 
oven before serving. 
The patties are to 
be purchased at the 
bakery and filled with 
a mixture of sweet- 
breads and canned 
mushrooms. The 
chicken in rice is a 
delicious dish, and 
one easily prepared, but seldom seen. 
The white meat of two or if necessary 

75 




EASTER FAVOUR. 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



three chickens is stewed mitil tender, 
then cut into pieces about four inches 
by two, and put in the centre of a bor- 
der of boiled rice which has been turned 
out on a round platter ; a sauce made of the 
strained chicken stock, thickened and with 
cream added until it is white in colour, is 




ICES IN A NEST OF SPUN SUGAR. 



then poured over the whole. If sherry is 
used it should be added the last thing. 

The sherbet is odd ; make a lemon ice 
and divide it ; colour one half light green 
and flavour with essence of peppermint ; 
serve the two ices together in glass cups, 
one layer of each. 

76 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The salad is made by cutting a head of 
lettuce into strips with the scissors, until 
it looks like grass, and putting this in a 
sort of nest shape on the plate with the 
yolks of hard-boiled eggs in a group in 
the centre and mayonnaise in a stiff 
spoonful on top. The cake served with 
the cream should be what is called sun- 
shine cake, an angels' food to which the 
yolks of the eggs has been added. 

Another Easter luncheon may be ar- 
ranged in green and white, which is even 
more beautiful and stately than this in 
yellow. For this, have a centrepiece of 
Easter lilies in a tall slender glass vase, 
or have three such vases down the table, 
if it is an oblong one, or several grouped 
around one larger one in the middle if it 
is round. Have guest cards painted with 
Easter lilies, and use only white and 
green decorations of bonbons on the 
table, — ribbon candies are pretty, or 
candy baskets in green filled with white 
candies. If you use candles on the table, 

77 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



have the shades represent lilies, inverted. 
The little cakes may be iced in green, 
and the colours carried out in the ice 
cream, which may be purchased in beau- 
tiful forms of lilies, the flower being of 
lemon ice and the leaves of pistache 
cream. Or, if the cream must be home- 




EASTER LILY OF ICE CREAM. 



made, you may have it of the pistache 
and serve it in a bed of whipped cream 
in rounded spoonfuls. Or, by way of 
still another method, have a plain white 
cream and serve it with a spray of maiden- 
hair fern on each plate. 



78 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A SHAKESPEARIAN LUNCHEON 

By a curious coincidence, Shake- 
speare's birthday and the day on which 
he died are the same, — the twenty-third 
of April; so this date is peculiarly ap- 
propriate for a luncheon to a literary 
club, or a group of literary friends. 
There is ample scope here for all sorts of 
Shakespearian suggestions, from views of 
his home, or sketches of Anne Hatha- 
way's cottage on the cards, to quotations 
taken from one play, or from many; for 
reminders of some one heroine, or sugges- 
tions of some historic event. One might 
have a Rosalind or Juliet luncheon, or 
carry out in one of half a dozen ways some 
play which a class has been studying. 

The flowers should certainly be English, 
either roses or primroses, and the deco- 
rations should be rather simple, as in 
keeping with the classic nature of the 
presiding genius of the day. The cards 
might bear a cut of his head, or each 

79 



Gala-Day Luncheons 




guest might have a small plaster bust, 

preferably one of the odd coloured ones 

which are sold in Stratford; the plain 
plaster ones are easily 
coloured ; or, if these 
little busts are not easily 
procured, get the small 
Japanese masks which 
are so artistic; they cost 
but a few cents each, 

and the expressions will convey the idea 

of comedy and tragedy. 

Strawberries will be in market in cities 

by the latter part of April, and these will 

make a first course. 

MENU 

Strawberries. 

Bouillon. 

Soft-Shell Crabs. 

Broiled Mushrooms on Toast. 

Chops. Peas. French Fried Potatoes. 

Chocolate. Lemon and Peppermint Ice. 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad. French Dressing. 

Cheese Straws. 

Coffee Mousse. Cakes. Bonbons. 

80 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The strawberries should be served with 
their hulls on, with a spoonful of pow- 
dered sugar on each plate; this may be 
moulded in a pyramid by pressing it into 
a little paper horn Of course finger 
bowls should be placed on the table at 
each plate 

The mousse may be either in a melon 
form or in slices, as is more convenient, 
but a little whipped cream served with it 
is an improvement in either case. Hav- 
ing this dessert, coffee is not offered at 
the close of the meal, as is usually done, 
but a cup of chocolate is passed with the 
chop course. The mousse is made by 
whipping sweetened cream, strongly fla- 
voured with black coffee, until it is per- 
fectly stiff, and packing it in a mould and 
burying it in ice and salt for at least four 
hours before it is needed. 

If a breakfast is desired for this Shake- 
speare celebration, as possibly may be if 
given for a club or class, this luncheon 
may be easily transformed into one. 

6 81 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



Breakfasts and luncheons differ princi- 
pally in the hour at which the meal is 
served, a breakfast being at twelve and 
a luncheon at one or half after one. 
It is also customary to begin a break- 
fast with fruit, and often, though not 
always, the meal concludes with cheese 
and coffee rather than with a sweet. 
This menu might be altered to cover 
these requirements, for as it begins with 
strawberries there need be no change 
until the final course, except that the 
chocolate should be omitted. Instead of 
the mousse serve creme Grervaise; that 
is, a slice of cream cheese about one inch 
by three, with a spoonful of whipped 
cream on it and a spoonful of gooseberry 
jam by its side. There is a variety of 
French preserved gooseberries called Bar- 
le-Duc which is particularly delicious. 
Sometimes before serving this dish the 
cheese is beaten with a little olive oil or 
cream to make it soft and light, and then 
it is pressed into shape again before it 

82 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



is cut into pieces for serving. If this is 
the final course at breakfast, serve coffee 
with it. 

There are an unlimited number of 
Shakespearian quotations for the cards, 
but for a woman's meal they might be 
taken either from the words of Juliet, 
Katharine, Portia, Rosalind, Hermione, 
Ophelia, Hero, Celia, Imogen, and Helena, 
or else the familiar ones which are given 
below ; in case this luncheon or break- 
fast is given for those interested in study, 
a guessing contest might be introduced 
with or without prizes, as to the context 
of these quotations : — 

'' Daffodils, that come before the swallow does." 

"Thou shalt not lack the flower that's like the face, 
Pale primrose." 

''I could wish my best friend at such a feast." 

" Things won, are done. Jo^^'s soul lies in the doing." 

''I have been so well brought up that I can write my 
name." 

83 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



" You have no cause to bold my friendship doubtful ; 
I never was nor never will be false." 

" Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind, 
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." 

" My heart unto yours is knit 
So that but one heart we can make of it." 

" Loving goes by haps ; 
Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps." 

" Of good discourse, an excellent musician." 

'^My affection hath an unknown bottom." 

Still another menu may be given for 
those who cannot obtain some of the 
articles suggested, such as strawberries, 
crabs, or fresh mushrooms. 

MENU 

Grape Feuit. 

Bouillon. 

Sardines on Toast. 

Mushroom Patties. 

Chops. Peas. French Fried Potatoes. 

Chocolate. 

Lettuce Salad with Shredded Bananas. 

French Dressing. 

Coffee Mousse. Cakes. Bonbons. 

84 



/ 



Gala- Day Luncheons 



In this menu the patties are to be filled 
with canned mushrooms, cut in bits and 
creamed. The salad is made by cutting 
bananas in halves, and 
then cutting each half 
into strips no larger 
than a knitting needle ; 
these are to be ar- 
ranged on lettuce 
with French dressing 
poured over the last 
thing before serving. 



A beautiful decora- 
tion for an April lun- 
cheon may be arranged 
with crocuses, flowers 
seldom or never seen 
on our tables, and 
therefore especially 
desirable by way of novelty. Have a large 
flat basket in the centre of the table filled 




YELLOW-SHADED CANDLE. 



with moss, and in this stick crocuses of 
all colours with their leaves, crowding as 

85 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



closely as possible. Repeat the colours 
in your candle-shades, if you use candles, 
having them delicate lilac with yellow 
touches on the edges, and use ribbon 
candy in lilac, yellow, and white. Serve 
yellow ices, or white ones in lilac baskets, 
and lay some of the crocuses on the plates 
with the finger bowls which appear with 
the coffee. 




86 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



JHaa 

THE first of May is not always a 
gala day ; to many it means the 
coming and going of moving 
vans, and meals eaten in cold comfort 
from the traditional window-sill. But 
where one has a permanent home, es- 
pecially in the country, no day is pleas- 
anter on which to give a luncheon than 
on May Day, with its charming asso- 
ciations of Spring. There are several 
fancies which may serve for suggestions ; 
one of these is the use of the ''May- 
flower" of our early history, and the 
flowers which bear the same name as the 
ship, the trailing arbutus of our Northern 
States. The two have no connection, 
really, but one suggests the other. 

87 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A MAY-DAY LUNCHEON 

The table may be laid with a cloth, 
by way of a change, one with an open 
border preferably. The centrepiece may 
be of lace over pale pink silk, and rows 
of baby ribbon may be drawn across the 
table, three or four strands each way, 
with a bunch of the ribbon where they 
cross. In the centre may be a large toy 
ship, all in white, with the word " May- 
flower" in gilt on the prow. The deck 
should be heaped with mayflowers, if 
this loveliest of our spring blossoms is to 
be had, and around the table at irregular 
intervals may be shallow bowls of the 
same flower. The cards may have the 
monogram of the hostess at the top, and 
a cluster of the arbutus painted below, if 
that is fancied. Care should be taken to 
keep all the decorations of the table in a 
very pale shade of pink, or the effect of 
the flowers will be spoiled. 

88 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

California Cherries. 

Clam Bouillon. Hot Crackers. 

Salmon Croquettes. Sauce Tartare. 

Crown Eoast of Lamb. Mashed Potatoes. 

Peas. Hot PiOlls. 

Mint Sherbet. 

Asparagus Salad. Cheese Crackers. Pim-olas. 

Strawberry Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The first course of cherries may be 
made very pretty by arranging the fruit 
in chisters of red and white with a few 
leaves and fastening them with invis- 
ible wire to bits of stem, and arrang- 
ing them in baskets of rough green straw 
tied with green ribbons. 

Crown roast of lamb is a rather un- 
usual dish at a luncheon, but it is an 
attractive one and not too heavy for the 
meal. It is the whole saddle of lamb, 
cut down the back, with the two sides 
carefully trimmed of the meat until the 
chop bones stand up alone as in French 

91 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



chops. The sides are then put together, 
bent in a circle, and fastened with skewers 
to form a crown with the bones standing 
up. The centre is filled either with 
mashed potato or with peas before it is 

served; it should be 
carved on the table, 
on a round platter, 
or, if it is carefully 
cut between the chops 
before it is brought 
in, it may be passed 
to the guests for each 
to cut for herself. 

The sherbet to fol- 
low this course is 
made by adding a 
handful of crushed 
mint to boiling hot lemonade, letting it 
stand till cool, straining, adding a little 
sherry or rum if you use them, and 
freezing. A few drops of green col- 
ouring improve its appearance. Some- 
times a sprig of mint is put in the 

92 




BASKET OF CHERRIES. 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



sherbet glass with the ice, a very pretty 
idea. 

The salad is made by cooking aspara- 
gus until it is tender, and when cold 
sprinkling with French dressing and al- 
lowing it to stand an hour before serving 
on lettuce with mayonnaise. 

With this luncheon the ices may be 
served in beautiful little ships of silver 
paper with delicate paper sails, or the 
ingenious caterer has a form for repro- 
ducing Plymouth Rock in caramel cream, 
so lifelike that even the fissure in the 
side appears. Either of these shapes are 
certainly delightfully appropriate for a 
May-Day luncheon if they are attainable. 
If not, the cream may be served in little 
fluted paper cases decorated with the ar- 
butus, tied on in small bunches with nar- 
row ribbon. 

AN APPLE-BLOSSOM LUNCHEON 

A hostess living in the country may 
offer a group of city guests a real de- 

93 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



light in May-time by inviting them to 
luncheon when the orchards are all in 
bloom. The invitations should bear the 
word ''Apple-Blossoms" in one corner, 




FILLED WITH CANDIED FRUITS. 



and the implied promise should be ful- 
filled by having the flowers in evidence 
everywhere in the house and out of it. 
The rooms should be decorated with 

94 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



bowls of the flowers on the mantels and 
on the top of the book-cases and on the 
tables in the halls. The luncheon table 
should have a bowl of the blossoms in 
the centre, and the cloth, or rather the 
table itself, should be strewn with the 
flowers picked from the stems and show- 
ered over it. The same small ribbons 
suggested for the May-Day luncheon 
may also be used for this one, as the 
colour should again be pale. The bon- 
bons used might be tiny candy apples. 

MENU 

Strawberries. 

Cream of Beet Soup. 

Frogs' Legs. Potato Balls. 

Chicken Croquettes with Asparagus Tips. 

Peas. Hot Eolls. 

Ginger Sherbet. 

Cheese Souffle. 

Cherry Salad. Sandwiches. Olives. 

Ice Cream in Angels' Food. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

95 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The soup is made by stewing chopped 
beets until they are tender and adding 
them to hot cream, seasoning, thicken- 
ing, and straining, and pouring into the 
bouillon cups onto a spoonful of whipped 
cream. The beets should be the dark 
red ones, and only enough should be used 
to give a pretty pink colour to the soup. 
Frogs' legs, fried and served with a bit 
of lemon make a very good course for 
lancheon, and one liked by almost every 
one. The salad is made by stoning Cali- 
fornia cherries and covering them with 
French dressing to which a little chopped 
parsley has been added, and laying them 
on a leaf of lettuce. 

The sherbet is a lemon ice flavoured 
with the syrup of preserved ginger, with 
a few bits of the root added. The cheese 
souffle, which may be placed before the 
sherbet, if desired, is made by grating a 
quarter of a pound of cheese and mix- 
ing it with two tablespoonfuls of flour, 
butter the size of a walnut, salt, and a 

96 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



little red pepper, and the beaten yolks of 
three eggs. Just before piittmg in the 
oven add the stiff whites of two eggs, 
and bake in buttered paper cases, or in 
small tin moulds. They must be eaten 
as soon as they are taken from the fire 
or they will fall. 

The ice cream is a plain white one, 
served in a large cake of angels' food 
which has had the top carefully cut off, 
the inside scooped out, and the cream 
packed firmly in. The cover is then put 
back and the whole iced, or covered with 
powdered sugar, and decorated on top 
with candied cherries. It is to be cut 
exactly as though it were simply an or- 
dinary cake, and served in slices. 



A SCHOOL-GIRL LUNCHEON 

A luncheon for a young girl should be 
of the simplest character, both in decora- 
tions and menu, but there is no reason 
why it should not be pretty. The most 

7 97 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



appropriate flower to use is the primrose ; 
pots of these may stand on the table, one 
in front of each guest, tied up with crepe 
paper and ribbons. If these are of two 
or more shades of pink, the effect will be 
more elaborate than if they are all of the 
same shade. In the centre may be a 
large pot with a number of the plants 
closely planted in it. If candles are 
used, the shades may be of plain card- 
board with a wreath of the same flowers 
on the edge, either artificial ones sewed 
on, or i3ainted in a simple pattern. Or, 
hyacinths may be used for the flowers, 
either pink ones or pink and white alter- 
nating. If the school-girls are beyond 
the time when the gift of a pot of flowers 
gives pleasure, — and there is a period 
when they would scorn such an offering 
as undignified, — let the decoration be a 
long, narrow box of the growing hyacinths 
in the centre of the table, which will 
make a beautiful window-box after the 
luncheon is past. The menu given above 

98 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



might be modified for this meal, as it is 
unnecessarily elaborate. 

MENU 

Strawberries. 

Cream of Beet Soup. 

Frogs' Legs. Potato Balls. 

Chicken Croquettes with Asparagus Tips. 

Cherry Salad. Sandwiches. 

Ice Cream in Angels' Food. 

Chocolate. Bonbons. 

Memorial Day is anything but an occa- 
sion for festivities, but the fact that it is 
one of our holidays suggests that some- 
where about that time one might have 

A MILITARY LUNCHEON 

Or one with both military and naval 
accompaniments. There are so many 
pretty little decorations nowadays for 
such a meal that the table may be very 
pretty. One of the guests may happen 
to have some special interest in the pro- 
tectors of our country, and she will es- 
pecially appreciate a table set with a 

99 
LofC. 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



small encampment of tents made of 
small napkins folded into the desired 
shape, or little battalions of toy soldiers 
presenting arms in companies around the 
central point of interest, which in this 
case might be a larger tent, draped with 
vines. The sherbet or ices might be 
served in military hats of felt or paper, 
and the favours might be knapsacks 
filled Avith candies. One course should 
be coffee and hard-tack, suggestive of 
the frugal fare of the soldier on duty. 
Otherwise the menu would better take 
its regular course, since bacon and beans 
and other army rations are not especially 
appetising. 

MENU 

Mock Bisque Soup. 

Shad with Eoe. Potato Balls. Cucumbers. 

Chicken Timbales. Peas. 

Kidneys and Mushrooms in Cases. 

Potato Puff. 

String Bean Salad with Mayonnaise. 

Neapolitan Ice Cream. Cakes. 

Coffee with Hard-Tack. 

100 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



As the course of shad with roe is rather 
a solid one, the meat course is lighter 
than usual. The kidneys are cleaned, 
cut in pieces and stewed until tender, 
when they are browned in butter to 




CAXDY BASKET. 

which seasoning and a dash of sherry 
have been added and mixed with the 
mushrooms; after a thorough heating 
they are served in cases either of paste 
or of paper. A few olives cut into small 
pieces may be mixed with the whole, if 
one likes the several flavours. 
101 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The string bean salad is simply made 
of cold boiled string beans, young and 
tender, which have lain in French dress- 
ing for a half hour before they are put 
on lettuce and mayonnaise added; one 
who has not tried this has no idea how 
good a salad it is. The Neapolitan ice 
cream is made of alternate layers of 
cream and ice in contrasting colours ; it 
is too much trouble to make this at home, 
but another cream can be substituted if 
desired, such as a rich vanilla with a hot 
chocolate sauce, or a white cream in 
which chopped candied fruit has been 
mixed. 

The hard-tack is of course a very large 
thin cracker, perhaps six inches in di- 
ameter; it is much better heated in the 
oven before serving, and if it is wished a 
cheese, either a cream, or one of the 
imported ones, such as Camembert, may 
be passed with it. 



102 



Gala-Day Limcheons 



A DELFT LUNCHEON 

This is a pretty luncheon to give in a 
country dining-room furnished in dull 
blue and white. Plaques of real or imi- 
tation Delft may hang on the walls of the 
room, and bowls of blue cornflowers and 
white carnations may stand in window- 
seats and on shelves as well as on the din- 
ing-table. The china should be blue and 
white or plain white, and the cards 
squares of pasteboard with sketches of 
Dutch scenes, or blue prints of some na- 
tive spot of interest. The souvenirs may 
be small Delft plaques, or toy windmills ; 
or they may be little Dutch maidens 
in quaint dresses, which will serve as 
penwipers after the day of the luncheon. 
The bonbons may be white ones in little 
wooden shoes placed in pairs around the 
table. The small cakes served with the 
ice cream may each have a tiny windmill 
cut from white paper standing in the 
white icing on top, and the cream itself 

103 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



may be a Avhite one in meringue shells 
tied with blue ribbon. Any one of the 
menus suggested will do to serve, as 
Dutch food alone would hardly seem at- 
tractive ; however, a course of doughnuts 
and coffee may take the place of ice 
cream and cake, if you fancy the idea. 



104 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



S^ViUt 



WITH this month of roses come 
many gala days; it is the fav- 
ourite month for weddings, and 
weddings always bring other festivities 
in their train. Perhaps the bride gives 
a luncheon for her bridesmaids, or one 
of the bridal party gives a luncheon for 
the rest. Besides these days of rejoic- 
ing, there are those other days when the 
graduates give parting entertainments of 
various sorts to each other; and since 
this is the month of Commencements, it 
is also the time for fraternity meetings 
and all those delightful reminders of 
school-days. June luncheons with such 
backgrounds of interest as these may 
well be memorable. 

105 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A BRIDAL LUNCHEON 

On the wedding-day itself, white should 
be the colour of the decorations, espe- 
cially if the day is a warm one, for 
nothing gives such a sense of coolness as 
a roomful of white flowers and ferns. 
Even if pink roses are used in the draw- 
ing-room and the halls, the dining-room 
is most attractive all in white. A beauti- 
ful background for the table is made by 
removing all the pictures and hangings, 
and covering the walls with asparagus 
fern hung lightly from the ceiling to the 
floor; where the lines are broken at door 
and window the vines are to be drawn 
back and tied at the side with white 
satin ribbon. 

The table should be covered with a 
white cloth, as elaborate as one possesses, 
and the centrepiece should be of lace. 
On this should be a large mound of 
white roses and asparagus fern; and if 
you choose, a canopy of vines from the 

106 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



centre of the ceiling to the edges of the 
table, fastened wherever they touch the 
cloth with a white rose. If candles are 
used thej^ should be white with shades of 
white rose petals, or else silver openwork. 
The table should be set with silver and 
glass as far as possible, and the small 
dishes which ornament it should be filled 
with small cakes with white icing, white 
candies, strawberries covered with white 
icing, white candied rose petals, and all 
the other pretty things to be found, such 
as large white candy baskets filled with 
crystallised fruits, — those made to repre- 
sent broad-brimmed hats, bent into odd 
shapes, are very graceful, — or the sim- 
pler mounds of charlotte russe, tied with 
wide white ribbon. 

At a wedding luncheon or breakfast 
the guests of course sit around the room, 
not at the table, which is used simply to 
serve from, and the menu is simpler than 
for a regular meal. 



109 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Cream of Clam Soup. 

Crabs Newburgh in Cases. 

Sweetbread Croquettes with Peas. Eolls. 

Chicken Salad. 

Ice Cream in White Eose Forms. Angels' food. 

Cafe Frappe. 

This is a suitable menu for a large and 
formal wedding ; for a smaller and simpler 
one the crabs may be omitted, and the 
f rappe be replaced by hot coffee ; indeed, 
in any case, hot coffee may be served as 
well as that which is iced. 

The crabs are prepared by boiling, 
removing from their shells, and heating in 
cream mixed with the yolks of three 
eggs, seasoning, and a dash of sherry; 
they are more delicate than the lobster 
prepared in the same way, but unless one 
has ample time and a number of workers, 
it is better to have the lobster, as picking 
the meat from crab shells is no light 
undertaking : still, the dish is so delicious 
it well repays some effort m preparing. 
110 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



If the ice cream cannot be obtained in 
rose forms, any rich white cream will do, 
or a mousse, made by whipping stiff 
cream until solid, sweetening, flavouring, 
and packing in ice and salt for four or 
five hours. 




If instead of a wedding breakfast or 
luncheon one desires a more informal 
meal to be given a day or two before the 
wedding itself, the menu may be altered 
to suit the occasion. The prettiest pos- 
sible cards may be prepared for this by 
painting the head of the bride in her veil 
with the date beneath the guest's name. 
Ill 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Clams on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Corn Soup. 

Halibut Timbales. Lobster Sauce. 

Broiled Squabs on Toast. Currant Jelly, 

Creamed Potatoes. 

Strawberry Sherbet. 

Tomato and Nut Salad. 

Brown Bread and Butter. 

Ice Cream in White Eose Forms. Cakes. 

Cafe Frappe, or Black Coffee. 

The sherbet is made by pressing the 
juice from two quarts of berries, adding 
a cup of water and the juice of half a 
lemon with sugar ; this is boiled for a few 
moments, strained, and frozen. The salad 
is made by blanching English walnuts 
and adding them to mayonnaise, serving 
with sliced tomatoes. The ice cream if 
in rose forms should be passed on a large 
silver tray with asparagus fern among the 
ices. The f rappe should be in small glass 
cups, if it is served at all, but unless the 
weather is very warm, have the coffee 
hot as usual. 

112 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A GRADUATES' LUNCHEON 

The prettiest possible decoration for 
this occasion is made by the lavish use of 
sweet peas, the flowers which seem to 
suggest young girlhood. The brilliant 
pink ones should be chosen, and bowls 
of them should stand about the table, 




one large one in the centre and smaller 
ones around irregularly; or else one 
large bowl may be in the centre and a 
quantity of the blossoms with the stems 
broken off scattered all over the table. 
This is one of the times when satin bows 
are not out of place, for girls generally 
think a table all the more attractive for 
them, though for most luncheons they 

8 113 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



are tabooed, as suggestive of the profes- 
sional decorator who revels in bows. 
The bonbons should be pink, and the 
cards should be small sheets of paper 
rolled up to resemble diplomas, each tied 
with a rose-coloured ribbon, with the 
name of the guest written on the out- 
side. 

mp:nu 

Bouillon. 

Creamed Fish in Shells. 

Asparagus with Cream Dressing. 

Broiled Spring Chicken. Peas. Potatoes. 

Currant Jelly. 

Cherry Ice. 

Lettuce and Tomato Salad with French 

Dressing. Cheese Straws. 

Individual Strawberry Shortcakes. 

Chocolate. Bonbons. 

The shortcakes may be either made by 
baking cakes in small tins, splitting, add- 
ing the crushed fruit, and putting whipped 
cream on top, or else in a fashion which 
all girls will welcome, by using a very 

114 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



small charlotte russe with a quantity of 
strawberries heaped about the base and 
powdered sugar over all. 

A ROSE LUNCHEON 

In this month of roses it is a pretty 
fancy to have a meal when they shall be 
especially in evidence. The table may be 
laid much as for the sweet pea luncheon, 
— that is, with bowls of the flower scat- 
tered over the table or one large bowl, 
and the flowers themselves, despoiled of 
their stems, scattered over the cloth. 
The cards may be of stiff paper, cut out 
to resemble flat, open roses, coloured 
pink, with the name of the guest written 
directly across. A large rose may lie at 
each plate, or in a pretty fashion they 
may be laid in a loose wreath around the 
centrepiece, and at the close of the meal 
each guest may be asked to take some 
of those before her plate. The bonbons 
used should be candied rose leaves. 
115 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Pineapple filled with Fruits. 

Cream of Asparagus Soup. 

Soft-Shell Crabs on Toast. 

Fried Sweetbreads. Peas. Potato Croquettes. 

Currant Sherbet. 

Tomato Baskets avith Cucumber Jelly. 

Mayonnaise. 

Frozen Strawberries. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The pineapple is to have its bushy top 
cut off, and the inside scooped out; the 
core is put aside, the soft part picked up 
and mixed with a little banana, orange, 
and small strawberries, sugar, and sherry, 
if you use it, and the whole put back in 
the shell and passed, the top lying on one 
side of the dish; small glass saucers, or 
nappies, as they are called, are on each 
plate, and the guest is to put a spoonful 
in hers. The colder the pineapple is, 
the better. If soft-shell crabs are not 
to be had, serve a creamed fish in whole 
cucumbers, as was suggested for a Janu- 

116 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



aiy limclieon. The tomato baskets are 
very pretty; they are made by ciittmg 
smooth tomatoes m basket shapes, re- 
moving the mside with a small spoon, 
and filling with cucumber jelly mixed 
with maj^onnaise. This latter is made 
by crushing peeled and sliced cucumbers, 
adding seasoning and a little onion, and 
stewing till soft ; they are then set with 
gelatine in a dish and when firm they are 
broken into pieces small enough to go in 
the baskets. If you are to have crabs, 
this course is all right, but if you have 
substituted the cucumbers with fish, you 
must again substitute and serve another 
salad for this. The frozen strawberries 
are made by crushing the fruit to a paste, 
adding one-third as much boiled lemon- 
ade, sweetening well, straining, and freez- 
ing. The cakes served with this should 
be iced in a rather deep pink. 

There are so many pretty and appro- 
priate quotations about roses that one 
may well add one to each guest card. 
117 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



" Roses for the blush of youth." 

" The sweetest rose, where all are roses." 

" She looks as clear as morning roses newly washed 
with dew." 

" Mantling on the maiden's cheek, 
Young roses kindled into thoughts." 

" It was roses, roses, all the w^ay." 
"The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew." 

" The red rose cries, ' She is near, she is near! ' 
And the white rose weeps, ' She is late ! ' " 

" O beautiful, royal rose, 
O rose so fair and sweet! " 

" Gather ye roses while ye may. 
Old Time is still a-flying." 

" Queen rose in the rose-bud garden of girls." 



A PEONY LUNCHEON 

is certainly novel, and if carried out care- 
fully it is extremely pretty, although at 
first thought one would think the peony 
too large and coarse a flower to use on 
the table. In order to get the best effect, 
the table must be a round one and quite 

118 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



large. Then the peonies, pink and white 
ones mixed, and with plenty of their own 
foliage, should be piled in a mass in the 
centre, with the bowl which holds them 
in place completely concealed. The 
flowers should lie on the cloth as well 
as rise in a mound from the table. Any 
one of the menus previously given will 
do to serve until the final course is 
reached, when the ice cream is to appear 
in the peonies themselves. A white 
cream is chosen, the hearts of the largest 
pink peonies are cut out, a round of 
waxed paper laid in the place, and a 
heaping, rounded spoonful of the cream 
is placed in the flowers. It is to have a 
spray of leaves under it as it lies on the 
plate. 




ii'j 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



SuXs 



THE summer days in the country 
are apt to seem rather long, if 
the weather is too hot for vig- 
orous exercise, but entertaining one's 
friends breaks the time dehghtfully. If 
the July noontime is warm, still the 
heat adds to the pleasure a luncheon of 
cold and delicious dainties gives, espe- 
cially if such a meal is served on a cool 
and shady porch, when it becomes fit for 
the gods. If one's summer home is un- 
fortunately without this sort of outdoor 
room, a little ingenuity will serve to pro- 
vide a substitute. In the early spring, 
some tall, strong posts may be set in the 
ground on the north or west side of the 
house about fourteen feet or more away, 
and the tops of these joined to the wall 

120 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



by some lighter strips of wood; then a 
floor may be laid, unless the grassy turf 
is preferred, and quickly growing vines, 
such as the morning glory or the moon- 
vine, planted, and soon one will have a 
really beautiful arbour room. 

The first gala day of the month, indeed 
the only one the calendar recognises, is 
the Fourth of July; this certainly de- 
serves to be celebrated by a luncheon. 

FOURTH OF JULY LUNCHEON 

Stand a toy cannon on your table for 
a centrepiece, draping it with delicate 
vines; or, if this proves too expensive 
to buy, and too difficult to borrow, sus- 
pend a large bell from two wooden sup- 
ports in the middle, with the same vines. 
At each plate lay a bonbon box which 
exactly resembles a cannon fire-cracker, 
filled with small red candies; the name 
of the guest may be printed on the side 
and it will serve for a guest card. Or 

123 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



you may give the guests small liberty 
bells instead of the large crackers, and 
use small crackers for cards. Or, instead 
of either of these things, you may give 
each one a bunch of real fire-crackers 
with her name printed on the outside. 
Have several vases of flowers on the 




IN PLACE OF A GUEST CARD. 



table, with red and white carnation and 
blue bachelors' buttons in each ; or if you 
do not like them mixed, alternate vases 
with red ones alone, white alone, and 
blue alone. In your little dishes of 
radishes, almonds, and bonbons, stand 
tiny American flags; tie the sandwiches 
with narrow red, white, and blue striped 

124 



L Gala-Day Luncheons 

ribbon, and the handles of the currant 
cups as well; the table may also have 
little tents and soldiers as in the military 
luncheon already suggested. 

MENU 

Iced Currants. 

Iced Bouillon. Water-Cress SAND^¥ICHES. 

Cold Salmon. Sauce Tartare. 

Tongue in Aspic. 

Tomatoes with French Dressing. 

Easpberry Shrub. 

Pineapple Salad. Cheese Crackers. 

Ice Cream in Drums. Cakes. Bonbons. 

The currants are to be crushed with a 
silver fork, sweetened, and put on the ice ; 
just before serving they are put in glass 
cups and a spoonful of crushed ice put 
on top. The bouillon is prepared the 
day before it is needed, and packed in 
ice and salt for an hour before the 
luncheon. The sandwiches passed with 
this are made by spreading very thin 
bread and butter with chopped water- 
cress, rolling and tying them, and then 

125 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



inserting a sprig of the cress at either 
end; it is not absolutely necessary to 
tie them, but they keep their shape far 
better if it is done. 

Choose a large smoked tongue, and two 
days before the luncheon boil it until 




tender, skin it, and lay it in a long nar- 
row pan. Make a bouillon of beef ex- 
tract, season it highly with red pepper, 
salt, and lemon juice, and herbs; simmer 
these together for a few minutes, then 
add sufficient dissolved gelatine to set 
the quantity you will need, and strain 

126 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the whole over the tongue, a little more 
than covermg it. Put this on the ice, 
and the next day you will have what 
our grandmothers used to call ''a sightly 
dish." It is to be put whole on the 
table, and sliced with a very sharp 




ICES SERVED IN DRUMS. 



knife. The tomatoes served with this 
are to be on the same plate, not treated 
as a salad. 

The pnieapple is to be picked up in 
rather large bits and placed on lettuce 
with mayonnaise. The ice cream is to 
be put into little paper drums, which 

127 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



may be had at the confectioner's or pos- 
sibly the toy store; if, however, they are 
not to be had in the country, the cream 
may be pnt in meringue shells and tied 
with ribbons. 

The raspberry shrub may be served all 
through the meal, or made a separate 
course instead of a sherbet. It is to be 
made some days before it is needed ; this 
is a simple and excellent rule: Put two 
and a half ounces of tartaric acid into a 
quart of water, and pour over six quarts 
of red raspberries. After two days stir 
and strain; add to each pint of juice a 
pound and a half of powdered sugar, stir 
till dissolved, let it stand four days, and 
then bottle. If this is too much trouble 
to prepare, serve lemonade coloured with 
raspberry juice, and if you wish to have 
it very nice, use vichy instead of water 
in making the lemonade. A fruit sher- 
bet may be introduced if the drink is 
served all through the meal. For a hot 
day in summer it is a mistake to have 

128 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the noon meal too long or too heavy, so 
m this menu the usual pate or croquette 
is omitted. 




A NAUTICAL LUNCHEON 

This meal may be served at a seaside 
cottage, or near a lake or even a river, or 
it may be used on board a yacht. If it 
happens to be in a house or on a piazza 
by the sea, the walls near by may be 
decorated with fish nets and oars. 

Use a table-cloth for the time, and omit 
any central decoration whatever, even the 

9 129 



Gala- Day Luncheons 



customary piece of lace. Arrange a small 
fleet of sail-boats all over the table, fasten- 
ing them to each other by a couple of 
strands of narrow ribbon, drawn loosely 
and tied ta each central mast. Heap the 
decks with some small flower which will 

look well with 
the colour of the 
ribbon. If but- 
tercups are to be 
had, they are 
pretty, with yel- 
low ribbons; or 
small pansies are 
lovely, with pur- 
ple and yellow; 
or the deck can be heaped with bon- 
bons, and the ribbons used as with the 
flowers, if this is preferred. It is nec- 
essary to cut off the keels of the little 
boats in order to have them stand securely, 
and the small unpainted boats which chil- 
dren use will do, and they can easily be 
painted white if they are unfinished. 

130 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



Your cards may be adorned with bits 
of pressed seaweed, if you are at the sea- 
shore, or with little sketches of sail-boats, 
row-boats, oars, or marine views. A meal 
of sea food might be fancied for variety. 

MENU 

Cream of Clam Soup with Whipped Cream. 

Scalloped Lobster. 

Broiled Bluefish. Potato Balls. Eolls. 

Shrimp Salad. Sandwiches. 

Ices in Fish Forms. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The boiled lobster is removed from the 
shell, seasoned, and mixed with bread 




crumbs, returned to the shell of the backs 
and tails, and browned in the oven. The 

131 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



shells may be saved when lobster is used 
for some time previous to the luncheon, 
if it is difficult to obtain a number at 
once. 

The salad is made by cutting canned 
shrimps into halves, and after putting 
them into small individual moulds, pour- 
ing over them a lemon jelly made with- 
out sweetening, and well seasoned. These 
moulds are to be turned out on lettuce 
leaves, and one or two small shrimps 
placed by each, and stiff mayonnaise 
passed with them. The ices may be had 
from the caterer in the form of shells, or 
fishes, or boats. If these are not to be 
had, a home-made cream may be served 
in the large scallop shells which are to be 
purchased very cheaply. If you are too 
far inland to obtain sea food, or if you 
do not fancy it for a whole luncheon, 
your decoration will sufficiently suggest 
the idea of the meal, and another menu 
can be substituted. 



132 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Eed Raspberries. 

Cream of Green Pea Soup. 

Fish Cutlets. Sauce Tartare. 

Fried Chickex. Potato Croquettes. Peas. 

Iced Tea (or Tea Sherbet). 

Whole Cucumber Salad. Almonds. Pim-olas. 

Caramel Ice Cream. Bonbons. 

The cutlets, which are simply cro- 
quettes moulded into cutlet form, may 
be made either from any fresh fish, or 
from canned salmon, or from well-fresh- 
ened salt codfish; and these last are 
really delicious. The tea is best made 
with boiling lemonade instead of boiling 
water; it is to be served in tall glasses, 
either as a separate course, or all through 
the meal as one prefers ; in case a sherbet 
is wished, this iced tea may be frozen 
with a flavour of rum in addition to the 
lemon, if one uses it, and served in sher- 
bet cups ; and cafe f rappe may be used as a 
final course if the day is warm, or the cof- 
fee maybe simply hot and black as usual. 

133 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The whole cucumber salad is very 
pretty. Rather large and very smooth 
ones are chosen, a slice is cut from the 
side lengthwise, the pulp is scooped out, 
mixed with bits of tomato and French 
dressing, and the whole put back with 
the slice put on again so that the cut is 
concealed. These are served on lettuce 
leaves with two small cheese balls by the 
side of each, made by grating American 
cheese, mixing with a little chopped pars- 
ley, salt, red pepper, and enough melted 
butter to make it moist, and rolling be- 
tween the hands until you have balls the 
size of marbles; they are to be dusted 
with chopped parsley before serving. 

A TRAVELLER'S LUNCHEON 

As so many go abroad as the hot 
weather begins, a luncheon may be ar- 
ranged in honour of some friend who is 
about to sail. The centrepiece may be 
a large toy steamer with the decks filled 

134 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



with flowers, or a floral piece may be ob- 
tained from the florists, who now construct 
extremely realistic steamers with flowers, 
green, and moss; but flowers are never 
at their best under such circumstances, 
and the toy steamer is to be preferred. 
Very pretty and inexpensive bonbon 
boxes are to be had in the shapes of 
steamer trunks, dress-suit cases, travel- 
ling bags, trunks ready labelled with the 
names of foreign cities, and dainty little 
lunch baskets tied up with ribbon, as 
well as the more expensive but useful 
favours made to resemble rugs in shawl 
straps which are to be used as pen-wipers 
after the day is over. The cards may 
bear the picture of a steamer disappear- 
ing in the distance with its trail of smoke 
curving back to form the name of the 
guest, or the words '' Bon Voyage." 

The menu could, of course, consist of 

foreign dishes such as the traveller is 

presumably to eat during her absence; 

but as few of them are as good as our 

135 



Gala- Day Luncheons 



own luncheon dishes this is not alto- 
gether to be commended. An attractive 
menu would be : — 

MENU 

Clams Cocktail in Tomato Baskets, 
consoxmme with hot crackers. 

Devilled Crabs. 

Chicken Livers on Skewers. 

EoAST Ducklings. Jelly. Mashed Potato. 

Cauliflower Salad. 

Nesselrode Pudding. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The tomatoes are to be cut into baskets 
with handles and filled with the clam 
cocktail just before serving. The crabs 
are to be boiled, removed from their 
shells, well seasoned, and wet with a little 
cream, put back into the shells with bread 
crumbs and bits of butter over them and 
browned in the oven. The chicken livers 
are to be stewed, cut in halves, and put 
on the small skewers with bits of bacon 
between the pieces and turned in the fry- 
ing-pan until they brown in the bacon 

136 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



fat; they are to be sent to the table on 
strips of toast. The duckhngs should be 
young, and a thick slice of breast or the 
second joint served to each person be- 
fore the plates are sent to the table ; the 
potato should be browned in the oven 
and passed. 

The salad is made by cooking cauli- 
flower, breaking it into bits, and serving 
on lettuce with mayonnaise. The Nessel- 
rode pudding is made in various ways, 
most of them very elaborate; probably 
the simplest is a caramel cream with pre- 
served figs and marrons cut up fine in it, 
with a flavouring of wine. It is also 
made by putting marrons into a plain 
rich white cream, flavouring it with the 
wine and serving it on whipped cream ; in 
any form it is always a delicious dessert. 

This menu omits the sherbet and gives 
a rather solid meat course; it may be 
varied by substituting chops for the 
duckling and adding a course of frozen 
oranges and bananas in lemon ice. 
137 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



^UlJUSJt 



LUNCHEONS in this hot month 
should be served as in July, on 
the porch or out of doors if pos- 
sible; if that is out of the question, at 
least the dining-room should be rather 
dark, and there should be some sugges- 
tion of coolness in the luncheon, either 
in the decoration or in the menu. Dur- 
ing this month, when students are at 
home for their vacations, one may wish 
to give a college luncheon. Of course, if 
the guests are all of one mind and can 
unite in lauding the same Alma Mater, it 
is an easy thing to so decorate the table 
as to give unalloyed pleasure, but where 
two or more colleges are represented it is 
not so simple. To take some of the most 
prominent ones, let us have first 
138 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A YALE LUNCHEON 

Have a large bowl of corn-flowers in 
the centre of the table, and smaller bowls 
at either end, if the table is oblong; if 
round or square, have four of the smaller 
bowls around the central one. If the col- 
lege men who are present are especially 
interested in athletics, or if there has 
been any important victory over some 
rival, it will be a delicate attention which 
will be appreciated by the guests if such 
a fact is remembered. If, for instance, 
Yale has just been victorious in baseball, 
decorate with bats, stacking them at in- 
tervals on the table; they may be pur- 
chased at toy shops in any desired size ; 
those about four or five inches high are 
most easily grouped. The sandwiches 
may be tied with blue ribbons and the 
cards can have sketches of caps and 
gowns, or pipes, or trophies of some sort. 
The ices may be served in round boxes 
with covers on which is the college seal, 

141 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and the outside may be covered with 
wide blue satin ribbon which will com- 
pletely hide the cardboard. These can 
be either purchased or made at home, 
and they will serve as souvenirs. As the 
appetites of college men are proverbially 
vigorous, it will be wise to provide a 
substantial meal. 

MENU 

Iced Muskmelon. 

Cream of Carrot Soup. Whipped Cream. 

Cold Lobster Halved. Mayonnaise. 

Spanish Omelette. 

Fried Chicken. Cauliflower 

Au Gratin. Potato Croquettes. 

Grape Sherbet. 

Banana Salad. Nasturtium Sandwiches. 

Mousse. Cakes. 

Coffee. 

The Spanish omelette is made by stew- 
ing tomatoes, green peppers, and onion, 
all cut in bits, until they are quite thick ; 
then an omelette is made and this mix- 
ture is folded in; it is very appetising, 

142 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and men are sure to like it. The cauli- 
flower is cooked, broken into small pieces, 
put in paper cases or in one large dish, 
seasoned well, and grated cheese and 
cream sauce are put in layers through 
it, the cheese on top, and the whole is 
browned in the oven. The sherbet may 
be made of the juice of any grape that is 




obtainable, but it is very pretty to use Ca- 
tawbas, and colour the ice slightly green ; 
if it is desired that the sherbet should be 
darker, use bottled grape juice, adding a 
little lemon to bring out the flavour. It 
should be served in sherbet cups with a 
spray of grape leaves under each on the 
plate. 

The salad is made by removing a strip 
of skin from each banana, scooping out 

143 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the fruit, cutting it in pieces, adding as 
much celery or apple and half as much 
of cut up English walnut meats which 
have been blanched, and covering the 
whole with French dressing, and return- 
ing to the skins, heaping it a little in 
them. Put one of these on a leaf of 
lettuce for each person ; nasturtium sand- 
wiches are pretty on a plate decorated 
with their own blossoms. 

If the boxes are used for the cream it 
must not be coloured, and a plain mousse 
may be better than anything else ; if the 
boxes are not used, the mousse may be 
flavoured with pistache, coloured green 
and served on a bed of whipped cream, 
with chopped angelia or pistache nuts 
scattered over it. For a 

HARVARD LUNCHEON 

lay broad crimson satin ribbons across 
the table at right angles, and then lay 
the table with doilies over the ribbon as 

144 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



if there were none there. Have a bowl 
of American Beauty roses in the centre, 
or put the flowers in a fancy basket. Or, 
if it should happen that the men present 
are especially happy over some rowing 
victory, put the roses in a long narrow 
boat in the centre, and have oars stacked 
at intervals on the table. Use the same 
menu as for the Yale luncheon. For a 

PRINCETON LUNCHEON 

use quantities of the yellow, black-eyed 
daisies which are common in our fields. 
A large football might stand in the centre 
of the table, open at the top, with the 
daisies filling it, and shallow bowls of 
them may stand on the table. The bon- 
bon dishes may be filled with yellow and 
chocolate bonbons, and the same sort of 
cards used as were suggested for the Yale 
luncheon, unless sketches of Princeton 
buildings are preferred. 

If the guests are from several colleges, 

10 145 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the best plan is to have no distinctively 
college colours on the table, but to confine 

Bone's self to the use of ath- 
letic symbols for decoration 
which are common to all. 
Golden-rod might be in a 
row-boat, for instance, and 
oars, base balls, bats, and 
footballs used as favours. 
For a hot-weather lun- 
cheon, nothing makes a pret- 
tier table than a quantity of 
'~~ pond lilies, used in some sim- 
ple way. As they are com- 
mon in August, you might 



give 



IJOWING FA\ OUR. 



A POND-LILY LUNCHEON 



Fill a shallow dish with water, and put 
several lilies with their leaves on top, but 
not so closely but that the water will 
show between them. Hide the outside 

146 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



of the dish with an arrangement of the 
lilies and their leaves, being careful not 
to have it look stiff. Cut your guest- 
cards in the shape of open lilies, and 
paint them, writing the name of the 
guest across their face. Have your bon- 
bons all green and white, and use plain 
white, or green and white china for serv- 
ing the meal as far as you can, for the 
sake of preserving the cool look of the 
table. The ice cream may be in the pond- 
lily flowers, prepared as were the peonies 
in the June luncheon. If the lilies are 
plenty, use them in bowls about the par- 
lours and halls, to carry out the idea of 
the day. 

MENU 

Clams on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Spinach Soup. Croutons. 

Devilled Crabs. 

Mushroom Patties. 

Braised Tongue. Potatoes au Gratin. 

Frozen Tomato Salad. Mayonnaise. 

Ice Cream in Water Lilies. Cakes. 

Cafe Frappe, or Iced Tea. 

U7 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The braised tongue is prepared as be- 
fore, stewed with herbs and seasoning in 
a baking-pan in the oven, but in this case 
it is served hot, with a spoonful of its 
gravy, strained, on each slice. 

There is no sherbet in this menu, as 
the frozen salad takes its place. This is 
made by cutting fresh tomatoes into bits, 
mashing them, seasoning and freezing 
them, stirring occasionally to make them 
smooth; after ttiey are stiff they must be 
scraped from the dasher, pressed down, 
and allowed to stand for an hour. They 
are to be cut in round spoonfuls, laid on 
a few lettuce leaves, and mayonnaise 
passed with them. 

The ice cream may be either a white 
or a pistache cream, and the water lilies 
should be treated as were the peonies, 
the heart of the flower removed and a 
piece of waxed paper laid in the centre 
with the cream on it. 

This same idea of coolness may be 
also well carried out in a luncheon 

148 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



in which ferns are made to play their 
part. 



A FERN LUNCHEON 

The house should be filled with ferns, 
in the fireplaces, in the window seats, 
in the parlours, and in the halls. In the 
dining-room the table may be laid either 
with or without a cloth, and a large shal- 
low pan or tray put in the centre; if a 
tray is used, it should have a layer of ab- 
sorbent cotton on it. The edge of this 
dish must be concealed by tiny growing 
ferns ; in the dish should be large pieces 
of ice, piled in an irregular mound, and 
very small ferns put in the crevices. The 
ice will give out enough coolness to per- 
ceptibly affect the atmosphere of the 
room, and the combination of the ice and 
ferns is a pretty one. A few days before 
the luncheon some ferns may be pressed, 
and these may be laid on the table if it is 
so large as to admit of more decoration ; 

149 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the cards may also have a little fern 
pasted on each. 

An appetismg menu might be : — 

MENU 

Iced Peaches. 

Cream of Corn Soup. 

Filets of Flounder. Sauce Tartare. 

Clams a la Newburgh. 

Chops. Stuffed Tomatoes. Iced Tea. 

Ked Easpberry Sherbet. 

Almond Aspic Salad. Brown Bread and Butter. 

Ice Cream in Melons. 

The peaches are not to be frozen, but 
kept on the ice after they are halved, 
peeled, and sprinkled with sugar, until 
they are thoroughly chilled. They may 
have a small spoonful of whipped cream 
served with them, if that combination is 
liked. The clams are prepared exactly 
as is lobster, except that they must be 
kept for a little longer in the sauce in 
order to just cook them through. They 
are to be served in ramekins. The toma- 
150 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



toes are to have the inside removed with- 
out breaking the skin, and this is mixed 
with bread crumbs and seasoning, re- 
turned to the tomatoes, and baked. 

The salad is made by filling small indi- 
vidual moulds with almonds and bouillon 
jelly made of melted extract of beef, sea- 
soning, and dissolved gelatine; the nuts 
should be cut into strips and arranged in 
a pattern with a little of the aspic before 
the moulds are filled. A stiff mayonnaise 
is to be served with this. 

The ice cream is particularly delicious, 
though it seems very odd to one who is 
not familiar with it. A very rich cream 
is made with the yolks of five eggs added 
to a quart of cream, and when done it is 
put in large spoonfuls in halved, small, 
and spicy muskmelons. The two eaten 
together are a decided improvement on 
either alone. 

There is really no reason for having 
sherbet with such a menu as this, for 
two cold dishes are already on the bill of 
153 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



fare, but if the day is extremely warm, it 
may be thought best to have it, even if it 
is acknowledged to be quite unnecessary. 



A POVERTY LUNCHEON 

Poverty luncheons are usually arranged 
in a series, every one of eight or ten 
hostesses giving in turn a meal to the 
rest which must cost exactly a specified 
price, the smaller the better. Usually 
two dollars and a half is selected as the 
proper amount for ten persons, and the 
rivalry between the luncheon-givers as to 
which one shall have the most elaborate 
meal for the price makes these luncheons 
very entertaining. Of course, by keeping 
everything down to the lowest possible 
sum, one can have any number of courses, 
but it is better to have less and have it 
fairly substantial. The prices of all the 
food, even to the butter, must be written 
on a card at each plate, and the flowers 
or other decorations are extras. 

154 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



MENU 

Bouillon $0.10 

Beoiled Saedines 20 

Chicken Patties 70 

Chops 40 

Potatoes, Peas . .15 

Polls and Buttee 20 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad . . .15 
Vanilla Mousse with Candied 

Feuit 35 

Coffee, Almonds, Peppeemint 

Wafees 25 



$2.50 



155 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



AS the days begin to grow cooler, 
and a suspicion of frost in the air 
in the early morning brings back 
one's vigour, golf seems the finest game 
in the world, and long days are spent on 
the links. A luncheon for golfers will 
transform any day in the week into a 
gala day, if only it is not taken too seri- 
ously. The guests are to come in their 
golf suits to be in keeping; the lun- 
cheon should be bright and informal 
rather than stately. 

If the company is a large one, seat 
them in fours at small tables, each of 
which should have a centrepiece of salvia, 
or Scotch heather, or — just for fun — 
thistles. The little souvenirs for this 
luncheon are of great variety, and most 
156 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



ingenious. There are plaid golf bags 
with sticks, to be filled with bonbons, or 
small plaid woollen caps to be presented 
to men afterwards for tobacco pouches, 
unless the men are present 
to receive them at the lun- 
cheon. There are plaid-cov- 
ered golf score-books, which 
are really useful as well as 
pretty, and a host of other 
things, such as individual 
sticks, which are less elab- 
orate. 

Your cards may have 
sketches of girls in golf cos- 
tume, or little cuts of such 
figures may be found in col- 
ours in golf catalogues, and 
cut out and pasted on the cards. The 
tables may have plaid ribbon drawn down 
each side, or have bows at the corners. 
You might have a Scotch menu for the 
sake of variety, although Scotch dishes 
do not compare with American. 

159 




Gala- Day Luncheons 



SCOTCH MENU 

Scotch Broth. 

Boiled Salmon. Boiled Potatoes. 

Haggis. 

Pheasant. Currant Jelly. 

Scotch Earebit on Toast. 

Plum Tart with Cream. Coffee. 

The broth is made by stewing mutton 
with vegetables until it is sufficiently 
strong; when the whole is strained and 
cooked, barley is added till the broth is 
quite thick; just before serving, a little 
chopped parsley is put in. Haggis is 
usually rather a formidable dish to under- 
take, as most recipes are very elaborate ; 
this one, however, is simple and the re- 
sults are good. Boil the head, heart, and 
liver of a sheep with one pound of bacon 
for an hour; then chop them, season 
highly, and add sufficient oatmeal to 
make a thick mush. Boil this in a bag 
for two hours, and serve it in the same 
bag, rolling it back to look as well as pos- 
sible; this receptacle is less objectionable 

160 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



than that in which haggis is served in 
Scotland, — the stomach of the sheep. 

Should you fear to venture on this 
dish, you might substitute for it Scotch 
snipe. For this make a paste of a box of 
sardines mixed with lemon and a little 
onion juice; spread on slices of bread 
and cut in strips half an inch thick. Put 
these in the oven and heat thoroughly, 
and then pour over them a sauce made 
of the beaten yolks of two eggs and six 
tablespoonfuls of cream, to which has 
been gradually added a tablespoonful of 
melted butter, and after taking from the 
fire, a half-teaspoonful of salt, a dash of 
red pepper, and a little chopped parsley. 
The strips of toast must be served very 
hot, and will be found delicious. Even 
if the haggis is used, this dish might be 
added to the bill of fare. If pheasant is 
not obtainable, prairie chicken is a per- 
fect substitute for it, or woodcock will 
do in the place of either. 

The Scotch rarebit is quite different 

11 161 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



from the Welsh, bemg made by adding 
to half a pmt of white sauce a table- 
spoonful of anchovy paste and a pinch 
of red pepper; cook this for a moment 
and add six hard-boiled eggs 
cut in rather large bits. Sim- 
mer the whole for three min- 
utes, and serve on buttered 
toast. 

The plum tart is made by 
cooking large purple or green- 
gage plums in a deep baking 
dish with a sprinkling of flour 
and plenty of sugar, and a 
cover of pie-crust over the 
top. Tart is always served 
in what foreigners call des- 
sert plates, but they are ex- 
actly like our soup plates, 
with a dessert spoon and a fork, and 
thick cream is passed with the dish. 
Coffee is never served on a Scotch table 
as a final course, but is offered with tea 
in the drawing-room after the meal. 

162 




GOLF FAVOUR. 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



However, in this case it may be passed 
after the tart, or poured on the porch 
afterwards. 

Should you wish a more conventional 
luncheon, this menu is a delicious one. 

MENU 

Grapes. 

Chicken Bouillon. 

Codfish Steaks. Lobster Sauce. 

Baked Spaghetti with Oysters. 

Prairie Chicken with Currant Jelly. 

Browned Potatoes. 

Tomato and Walnut Salad. Cheese Crackers. 

Frozen Watermelon. 

Coffee. 

Although this is rather an elaborate 
menu, there is no sherbet in it on account 
of the watermelon, which is better if no 
other frozen dish is used with it. 

The spaghetti is prepared exactly as 
when cooked with cheese; that is, it is 
stewed till tender, washed in cold water 
to remove the starch, and laid in a dish 
in layers with seasoning, oysters, and 

163 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



white sauce, and baked till brown. This 
is more easily managed if bread crumbs 
are put on top with butter, and small 
dishes or ramekins are used. 

The watermelon is to be scooped in 
large spoonfuls from the rind, the seeds 
removed, and the melon laid in a freezer 
with powdered sugar and a little sherry, 
and the freezer put in a cool place packed 
with ice and salt for at least five hours. 

When country houses are rather far 
apart, it is often convenient to go from 
one to another on one's wheel, in spite 
of the fact that bicycling is no longer in 
high favour. Still, so long as wheels are 
so useful they will continue to be used, 
and just so long 

A BICYCLE LUNCHEON 

will be found appropriate for some 
occasion. 

Decorate your table with golden-rod or 
autumn leaves or a mixture of golden-rod 

164 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and purple asters, the two flowers which 
are so beautiful together ; do not on any 
account use garden or hot-house flowers 
for a luncheon, which on its face suggests 
out-of-door sport. Search the magazines 
for bicycle advertisements, and cut out 




bicyclers in all sorts of attitudes and 
dress, and paste these on cards with a 
brief line commending some one make of 
wheel for each guest ; the more extrava- 
gant the praise of each, the better. There 
are all sorts of pretty little favours to be 
had of bicycles, tricycles, and tandems, 
which will serve as souvenirs. This may 

165 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



be transformed into an automobile lun- 
cheon by the change of the two convey- 
ances. Oysters are again in season, and 
will be welcomed by the hostess as a first 
course. 

MENU 

Oysters on the Half-Shell. 

Tomato Soup. 

Creamed Lobster in Shells. 

Quail on Toast. Potato Croquettes. Jelly. 

Hot Eolls. 

Grape Sherbet. 

Apple Salad. Water-Cress Sandwiches. 

Frozen Peaches. Cake. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The salad is made by scooping out the 
whole inside of a large red apple, after a 
slice has been carefully cut from the stem 
end with a sharp knife; this pulp is 
chopped, mixed with small bits of celery 
and English walnuts, with stiff mayon- 
naise, and the whole returned to the 
apple, the top being put on again so that 
the cut does not show; this is a very 

166 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



pretty salad, especially if care is taken 
to choose perfect apples. 

As college opens again there are always 
those whose school-days are over, who 
are ^' left lamenting " somewhat because 
the happy days are no more. For such, 
a luncheon may be arranged which will 
have special reference to the common 
past of a group of classmates. 

ALUMNI LUNCHEON 

Lay the table prettily with the usual 
doilies, bonbon dishes of almonds, rad- 
ishes, candies, and crystallised fruits. 
Garden asters are now in full bloom and 
come in great variety of colour, and these 
will make a beautiful centrepiece, massed 
in a large bowl. The combination of 
crimson and pink, of pink and white, or 
of white and purple is better than the 
use of one shade alone. The table should 
be lighted with Roman lamps or else with 

167 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



Jerusalem candlesticks, as suggestive of 
classical studies; to be sure, September 
is one of the sunny months, but this 
luncheon may be used quite as well at 
some other time of the year as the fall, 

if that is desired, so 
the suggestion of 
the lamps may 
stand. 

The most attrac- 
tive feature of the 
luncheon may be 
the cards, which 
may well be pre- 
served for years as 
souvenirs of college 
as well as of this 
meal; they are to be photographs of 
the particular place in the college 
grounds or dormitories or village with 
which each guest was most associ- 
ated. If one has a friend still in col- 
lege with a kodak (and what college girl 
does not own one!), she can take and 

1G8 




Gala- Day Luncheons 



send them to you. The girl who was 
oftenest m the Dean's office for repri- 
mand may have a picture of that inte- 
rior; the one who was champion at 
basket ball, a view of the gymnasium 
with the team at play ; the girl who was 
the best at chemistry, a glimpse of the 
laboratory; the one who frequented the 
soda fountain down town, a picture of 
that. Or, if these photographs are too 
frivolous, pictures of beautiful views 
about the college grounds may be sub- 
stituted. 

The luncheon may suggest in its menu 
the favourite dishes of some of the class, 
or one course might be a reminder of 
something served constantly on the col- 
lege table ; this meal really gives unlim- 
ited opportunity for ingenuity. 

If the weather does not admit of using 
artificial lights, and yet the table is felt 
to be incomplete without the small Ro- 
man lamps, they might be filled with 
flowers instead of oil and used as deco- 

169 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



rations, the central group of asters being 
kept low in a very shallow bowl. 

MENU 

Peaches and Grapes. 
* Cream of Corn Soup. 

Creamed Oysters. 

Jellied Chicken. Pim-olas. 

Chops with Peas. Sweet Potato Croquettes. 

Lemon Sherbet. 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad. French Dressing. 

Sandwiches. 

Maple Pare ait. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The maple parfait is one of the most 
delicious of desserts, and one easily pre- 
pared as well. The yolks of eight eggs 
are beaten stiff, a cupful of maple syrup 
is added, and the whole is heated until it 
makes a thick coating on the spoon, when 
it is taken from the fire and beaten until 
it is cold ; a pint of thick cream is then 
beaten stiff and mixed lightly with the 
eggs and syrup, and the whole is put in 
a melon mould and packed in ice and 
170 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



salt for five hours. The bonbons served 
with the coffee should be those especially 
fancied by the girls of the college; if 
there is a fudge named for the institu- 
tion, that is the sweet to choose. 



A LABOUR DAY LUNCHEON 

As Labour Day is a national holiday, it 
must be regarded as a gala day. A lun- 
cheon which is in keeping with the occa- 
sion must not be elaborate, but, on the 
contrary, as simple as may be without 
actually serving the labourer's bill of fare. 
A good deal may be done to divert the 
guests without giving a suspicion of mak- 
ing fun of the occasion, which is not in 
the least contemplated. The table should 
be laid with a cloth, plain white china 
used, and the decorations should be wild 
flowers. The cards should bear a sketch 
of a labourer, and the favours should be 
small picks, shovels, spades, and hoes, 
such as children play with. Have a 

171 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



course of cold meat, and one of baked 
beans, as well as one in which crackers, 
cheese, and coffee are served at the same 
time. 

MENU 

Bouillon (in Tin Cups). 

Baked Beans in Bean-Pots. 

Cold Lamb. Pickles. Bread and Butter. 

Potato Salad. 

Vanilla Ice Cream (in Small Tin Dinner-Pails). 

Crackers, Cheese, and Coffee. 

This is a rather plain meal, but noth- 
ing else will be appropriate, and the idea 
of the day will prove its best sauce. 



172 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



#ct0Ber 



ONE of the oddest of luncheons 
may be given m October on the 
tin-wedding anniversary, for as 
this is a favourite month for weddings, 
anniversaries are sure to be frequent 
among one's friends; the bride of a 
decade ago may gather her former brides- 
maids for a luncheon served with remi- 
niscences, or a bridesmaid may entertain 
the group, or possibly a number of Octo- 
ber brides of ten years' standing may 
gather to celebrate on one day the anni- 
versaries scattered through the month. 

A TIN-WEDDTNG LUNCHEON 

Lay the table in pink; have a lace 
centrepiece over silk, a tin quart meas- 
ure in the middle filled with pink brides- 

173 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



maid's roses, and pink candles with pink 
rose shades, if the day is dark. Use small 
tin plates for the bread and butter, and 
put the bonbons, almonds, radishes, and 
candied ginger in little scalloped tins. A 
souvenir spoon may be given each guest, — 
of tin, of course, — tied with a white rib- 
bon, with the name of some city the bride 
did not visit on her wedding trip painted 
in white letters in the bowl ; one is sup- 
posed to believe that these spoons were 
purchased at Copenhagen, Constantinople, 
and Moscow with a view to this occasion. 
Or, if souvenir spoons seem altogether 
out of date, though really they would 
have been quite the thing ten years ago, 
and are therefore no anachronism, give 
the guests some small tin utensil such 
as an apple-corer, or a nutmeg-grater. 
Serve everything in tin ; the bouillon in 
small cups with handles, the sherbet in 
scalloped tins, the fish, salad, and ice 
cream on tin plates of medium size, and 
the chicken on larger ones. The coffee 

174 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



may be in tin timbale moulds. If you 
use candles, put them in ordinary tin 
candlesticks. 

MENU 

Peaches. 

Bouillon. 

Broiled Oysters on Toast. 

Curried Eggs in Eice Border. 

Chicken Breasts with Italian Chestnuts. 

Potato Croquettes. Polls. 

Orange Sherbet. 

Plum Salad. Lettuce Sandwiches. 

Sunshine Ice Cream and Cake. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

To prepare curried eggs, boil as many 
as are needed until hard, peel, and put 
them in a ring of 
boiled rice which 
has been turned 
out of a border 
mould; this rice 
should be well 
seasoned with a little chopped parsley 
mixed with it. Over all should be poured 

12 177 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



a white sauce flavoured with curry pow- 
der, and on the top should be sprinkled 
grated Parmesan cheese, and the whole 
lightly browned in the oven. 

The Italian chestnuts served with the 
chicken are to be boiled until the shells 
can be removed, and then stewed gently 
in cream until they are tender ; the inner 
skin is not to be removed, as this gives 
the chestnuts a purple colour and serves 
to keep them in shape. 

The salad is made of the largest plums 
to be found; they are to be peeled, 
halved, and laid on lettuce with either 
French dressing or mayonnaise. 

The ice cream is a rich vanilla cream 
made with the yolks of the eggs; it is 
served in a very large sunshine cake, — 
that is, an angels^ food with the yolks of 
the eggs added, — which has been turned 
upside down and had the entire centre 
cut out, leaving only a ring of the cake. 
The cream is put in this in large rounded 
spoonfuls, and a slice of the cake is cut 

178 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and served with each. If any of the 
weddmg cake has been kept, some other 
cream may be used for the luncheon, 
and the cake, cut m small pieces, passed 
with it. 

HALLOWE'EN LUNCHEON 

This luncheon should be carried out in 
yellow and brown, and if one can have 
autumn leaves for decoration she will 
feel that she has the really appropriate 
thing ; still, if these are not to be had, or 
if the colours have vanished from them, 
there are other things which will do 
almost as well. A pumpkin might serve 
as a centrepiece, with the top off and the 
centre cut out, filled either with fruit or 
chestnuts or chrysanthemums, or the 
latter may be used alone in a tall vase. 
The little dishes on the table should hold 
chocolates and plenty of marrons, or can- 
died chestnuts. Few persons know, until 
they have tried the experiment, how eas- 

179 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



ily these latter dainties are prepared at 
home ; after boiling, peeling, and simmer- 
ing them in a thick syrup, they are rolled 
in sugar and laid on oiled paper ; a simple 
way of making what is usually considered 
an expensive luxury. 

Your guest cards should be decorated 
with sketches of witches or brownies, or 
lighted candles; or you may purchase 
some small souvenirs, such as stick-pins 
with witches, or silver crescents with 
figures with brooms seated at one end. 
Cards of burnt leather are also in keep- 
ing with the colours of the table and 
with the idea of the day. 

Darken the room and light the gas, but 
turn it low ; get some of the little bonbon 
boxes in the shape of oranges, or empty 
orange skins ; through an opening at 
one end, cut eyes, nose, and mouth, 
as is done in making Jack o' lanterns, 
drop a little hot wax in the bottom of 
each, and put in a small lighted candle ; 
the effect is decidedly quaint and pretty 

180 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



when tlie table is all lighted. If a sup- 
per is desired rather than a luncheon, 
these same suggestions will do for that, 
and if the menu is too long, the cro- 
quettes and sherbet may be omitted. 

MENU 

White Grapes. 

Tomato Bisque. 

Fried Oysters. Sauce Tartare. 

Chicken Croquettes with Peas. 

Quail. Currant Jelly. 

French Fried Potatoes. 

Grape Fruit Sherbet in Skins. 

Sweetbreads in Aspic. Mayonnaise. 

Wine Jelly with Cream. Cakes. 

Chocolate. 

The sherbet is delicious, but rather 
troublesome to prepare. Small fruit is 
selected, the pulp removed in spoonfuls 
without the breaking the sections, and 
after sweetening well, it is packed in the 
freezer to stand four hours; meanwhile 
the skins of the fruit are cut in basket 

181 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



shapes, and when the luncheon is 
ready, the frozen fruit is heaped in 
these. 

The salad is made by putting cooked 
sweetbreads in melted beef extract which 
has been seasoned and had sufficient gela- 
tine added to set it; it is to be put in 
small moulds and turned out on lettuce 
with a spoonful of may- 
onnaise by each. If a 
simpler salad is wished, 
one that is surprisingly 
good is made by putting 
cold cooked string beans 
on lettuce, sprinkling 
with French dressing and serving with 
mayonnaise. 

The wine jelly, while still warm, is to 
be poured over bits of candied fruit laid 
in a ring mould. When served, the centre 
is filled with whipped cream and candied 
fruit scattered over all. 



182 




Gala- Day Luncheons 



AN AUTHORS' LUNCHEON 

This luncheon is not intended to be 
eaten by authors, though they are not 
necessarily barred from participating in 
it, but it is arranged for some group 
of clever women who are sufficiently well 
read to enter into a guessing contest with 
interest in the books and authors named ; 
or a girls' club may enjoy a trial of their lit- 
erary knowledge. The luncheon is capa- 
ble of infinite variation, and any one with 
a catalogue of books can alter it to suit 
the requirements of any especial occasion. 

Cards should lie at each place with the 
menu written out as in the first one 
printed below, with the names of the 
authors omitted, and before each course, 
or while one is eaten the next dish is to 
be guessed, and the author named. A 
prize might be offered for the most nu- 
merous guesses which are correct. The 
hostess would do well to have the key 
to the menu by her plate. 
183 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The table decorations may be of an or- 
dinary character, such as a bunch of roses 
in the middle, or a vase of asters or 
chrysanthemums, and the usual pretty 
doilies and odd dishes about, or, if laurel 
is to be had, either the flowers or the 
leaves may be used to suggest the crown- 
ing of genius. 

MENU 

1. Toilers of the Sea. (Victor Hugo.) 

2. A Study in Scarlet. (Doyle.) 

3. The Water Babies. (Kingsley.) 

4. Between Whiles. (Helen Hunt Jackson.) 

5. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. (Scott.) 

6. A Dead Secret (Wilkie Collins); and Plain 

Tales from the Hills. (Kipling.) 

7. The Desert of Ice. (Jules A^erne.) 

8. Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitman); and Un- 

leavened Bread. (Grant.) 

9. The Snow Image. (Hawthorne.) 

10. Over the Teacups. (Holmes.) 

11. Opening of a Chestnut Burr. (KoE.) 

12. All's Well that Ends Well. (Shakespeare.) 

The cuhnary key to the hmcheon is 
this : — 

184 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



1. 


Oysters. 


2. 


Tomato Soup. 


3. 


Smelts with Sauce Tart are. 


4. 


Almonds. Eadishes. Celery. 


5. 


Eggs ix Eamekins. 


6. 


Chicken Chartreuse and Potatoes. 


7. 


Peach Sherbet. 


8. 


Shredded Lettuce and Crackers. 


9. 


Ice Cream in Forms. 


10. 


Tea. 



11. and 12. Marrons and Bonbons. 

The eggs are prepared by cutting up 
those that have been hard boiled, season- 
ing them well, covering with white sauce, 
putting in individual baking dishes, cover- 
ing with grated cheese, and browning. The 
chicken is minced, seasoned with salt, pep- 
per, and a little sherry or stewed tomato, 
and put in a melon mould which has 
been buttered and lined with an inch 
thickness of boiled rice ; then the mould 
is steamed for three quarters of an hour, 
and when done the whole is turned out 
on a round platter, and a tomato sauce 
is poured around it. 

185 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The salad is made by cutting a head of 
lettuce across with the scissors until leaves 
of grass result ; mayonnaise is to be passed 
with this. 

The ice cream is to be in forms of any 
sort, but the figure of a man is the most 
appropriate. 

This luncheon may be changed from a 
gastronomic to a literary guessing game, 
either by furnishing the guests with a 
copy of the titles of the books without 
the authors, making them guess both the 
writer and the dish which is represented, 
or by furnishing the actual menu and 
asking the guests to give a title of a book 
which will suitably represent the course. 
In order to give opportunity for some 
choice in this luncheon, a slightly altered 
menu is also given : — 

MENU 

Toilers of the Sea. 
A Study in Scarlet. 
The Water Babies. 
Between Wliiles. 

A Dead Secret, and Plain Tales from the Hills. 
186 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



The Desert of Ice. 

Wing and Wing. 

Leaves of Grass, and Unleavened Bread. 

The Snow Image. 

Over the Teacups. 

All 's well that Ends Well. 

^'Wing and Wing" is by Cooper, as 
doubtless your guests will know, and 
may be represented by a course of game, 
either pigeons or duckling. 



187 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



THE principal gala day of this 
month is toward the last, the 
historic gala day of our fore- 
fathers, Thanksgiving; still, it is quite 
proper to have a luncheon at any time 
during the month which shall have the 
characteristics of the time. 

A THANKSGIVING LUNCHEON 

should remind us of the dress and food 
of our ancestors, but all of their austerity 
and asceticism may go without mention ; 
we do not take kindly to these things in 
our days of luxury and ease. Have your 
guest-cards bear a sketch of a Puritan 
girl, or a man in a tall pointed hat and 
long cloak with a gun over his shoulder, 

188 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



or some other suggestion of Colonial 
times. Have your menu made up largely 
of dishes said to have been used at the 
first Thanksgiving Day meal, judiciously 
combined with every-day delicacies which 
are more warmly approved by this gener- 
ation. Let your bonbons be in the shape 
of candy vegetables; they are odd, and 
wonderfully accurate, and are to be had 
in the form of radishes, carrots, potatoes, 
turnips, beets, and almost everything else ; 
and buy favours in the shape of minia- 
ture roasted turkeys. Chrysanthemums 
are the flower of November, and they are 
beautiful in any shade, but yellow is the 
most brilliant, and a mass of this splen- 
did color in the centre of the table will 
make it attractive. If you use candles, 
have them of yellow, with paper shades 
of chrysanthemums. 

The Puritans are said to have dined 
on oysters, clams, turkey, succotash, and 
game, and all these things must be in the 
menu: — 

191 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Oysters on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Celery Soup. 

Clams Newburgh. 

EoAST Turkey Breast in Slices. 

Currant Jelly. Succotash in Cases. Potato. 

Cranberry Sherbet. 

Scallop Salad. Olives. 

Brown Bread and Butter. 

Individual Mince Pies. Cheese. 

Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Chocolate Sauce. 

Coffee. 

The salad is made by scalding a pint 
of scallops, draining them and serving 
on lettuce with a sprinkling of chopped 
parsley and a French dressing. The 
mince-pies may be omitted if they seem 
too heavy for luncheon, but if you fancy 
this reminder of a real Thanksgiving 
meal, have them made in small round 
tins about four inches across, and have 
the pie-crust as delicate as possible. The 
hot sauce to serve with the ice cream is 
made by boiling a pint of water with 
half a pint of sugar until it hardens in 

192 



Gala-Day Luncheons 




water, and then adding two tablespoon- 
fuls of grated chocolate dissolved in three 
tablespoonfuls of boiling water, and boil- 
ing again until it crisps in water; add 
vanilla and serve at once. In the place 
of both the pie 
and this cream, 
you may have a 
sort of combi- 
nation of both, 
which might be 
called mince-pie ice cream, made by 
adding chopped raisins, spice, and a 
dash of wine to a rich chocolate ice 
cream; the slices look and taste like 
fruit cake, and served with whipped 
cream are delicious. 



A CARMEN LUNCHEON 

In cities the opera season begins earlier 
than it did formerly, and this suggests 
an operatic luncheon, either one served 
just before a matinee, or given by way of 

13 193 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



something new, without regard to times 
and seasons. Ahnost any opera gives 
scope for decorations and cards in keep- 
ing with the idea of its story, but per- 
haps Carmen is the most distinctive. 
For this, your cards should bear a bar of 
music, — the famous and easily recog- 
nized '' Toreador " song is the best, — or 
else a sketch of some scene from the 
stage. If you can find paper fans with 
the pictures of bull-fights, such as are to 
be had at times in our shops, these are 
certainly appropriate as souvenirs. 

The decorations must be in the Spanish 
colours, scarlet and yellow, and carnations 
will give the best results; if you fancy 
having a corsage bouquet for each guest 
these may be of alternate colours, yellow 
tied with red and red tied with yellow, 
with the flowers in the centre of the 
table of the two. The bonbons may be 
of scarlet and yellow also. Here is a 
Spanish menu: — 



194 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Oranges. 

Red Bean Soup. 

Broiled Fish with Tomato Sauce. 

Spaghetti with Cheese. 

Spanish Chicken. Lyonnaise Potatoes. 

Olive Salad. 

Stuffed Cake. 

Coffee. 

The soup is made of strong stock with 
red beans, and seasoning in this way: a 
little onion and garlic are browned in a 
deep kettle with a spoonful of lard and 
a pinch of thyme ; a stock is poured over 
this, and two cupfuls of red beans which 
have been cooked until they are soft are 
added; the whole is put through a sieve 
and poured over croutons just before 
serving. 

Any fish will do for the third course, 
but bluefish is the best ; after it is cooked 
it is cut in pieces ready to serve, and then 
a rich tomato sauce is poured over each 
piece. The chicken is really delicious. 
A tender fowl is chosen, jointed, and put 

195 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



on to stew. A dozen dry red peppers are 
cut np and boiled, after the seeds have 
been removed; they are then moistened 
with a little chicken broth and put 
through a sieve; one green pepper and 
two sliced onions are fried in a little 
lard, the peppers and chicken added, and 
the whole covered with the thickened 
gravy and simmered for fifteen minutes 
before serving. 

The salad is one of the commonest 
Spanish dishes. To make it, take a cup 
of dice made of stale bread, sprinkle with 
bits of red peppers, add a cup of stoned 
olives, cut up, and half a cup of chopped 
cucumber pickles; mix the whole with 
mayonnaise and serve on lettuce cut in 
strips; pass a strong cheese with it. 
The stuffed cake is also a dish frequently 
seen in Spain. A large sponge cake is 
soaked in mild sherry, stuck full of 
blanched almonds and stoned raisins, and 
eaten with a rich boiled custard poured 

over it. 

196 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



A HORSE-SHOW LUNCHEON 

In New York the horse show is the 
great November event; perhaps in other 
cities there is something corresponding 
to it, and certainly in small places there 
is a great interest taken in the County 
Fair, which comes somewhat earlier in 
the fall. For any day when a number 
of friends are to visit a place where the 
horse is the hero, a luncheon may pre- 
cede the hour. A large floral horse-shoe 
may be the decoration of the table, or 
one may be suspended over the table and 
the flowers may be of the same variety 
in the centrepiece, but arranged with 
more grace. The guest cards may bear 
a sketch of a horse, or of a horse-shoe, or 
a whip or some similar device, and the 
favours may be of the same character, in 
the shape of little silver pins; or, if the 
luncheon is sufficiently informal to war- 
rant it, these favours may be chocolate 
horses, standing at each plate. 
197 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Clams on the Half-Shell. 

Cream of Lima Bean Soup. 

Creamed Scallops in Eamekins. 

Chicken in Green Peppers. 

Breaded Chops with Tomato Sauce. 

Potatoes au Gratin. Hot Polls. 

Lobster Salad. Cheese Straws. 

Ice Cream with Maple Sauce. 

Coffee. 

The chicken m the peppers is to be 
ordinary minced white meat, with suffi- 
cient white sauce to make it palatable; 
if it is too wet it will not be good. It is 
put in raw peppers from which the ends 
have been cut, and the seeds removed, 
and the whole thoroughly heated in the 
oven. The potatoes are baked and served 
in their own shells after they have been 
scooped out and seasoned, and cut in half, 
with grated cheese over them. The ice 
cream is a rich French cream made with 
eggs, and the sauce is hot maple syrup 
198 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



with English walnuts broken in pieces in 
it ; it is one of the most delicious of des- 
serts, well worth being used in place of 
any of the suggested creams at any lun- 
cheon during the year. 



AN INDIAN LUNCHEON 

Boys are supposed to scorn luncheon 
as a purely feminine meal and one w^hich 
is necessarily frivolous ; nevertheless 
there are occasions when a boy is inter- 
ested in entertaining his friends at hm- 
cheon, perhaps before going to see a 
football game, or some such athletic con- 
test, and then a meal with Indian acces- 
sories will delight him. 

The table should be laid with a cloth 
rather than with doilies, and the centre- 
piece may be a birch-bark canoe, planted 
with ferns. The cards may be of birch 
bark with quotations from Hiawatha, or 
of cardboard with an Indian's head in 

199 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



colours, or a sketch of a wigwam, or a 
tomahawk, or a pair of snowshoes. 

The bonbons may be in pretty Kttle 
bead pouches laid at each plate, or else 
in pairs of small moccasins around on 
the table, or in tiny birch-bark canoes. 




The luncheon should be a hearty one 
without those ''frills" which the bud- 
ding masculine intelligence refuses to 
admire. 

The menu, like the one suggested for 
the Thanksgiving luncheon, may have a 
suggestion of Indian dishes in it. 



200 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Oyster Bisque. 

Creamed Fish in Shells. 

Slices of Turkey Breast. Peas. 

Creamed Potatoes. Cranberries. 

Lobster Salad. Sandwiches. 

Individual Mince-Pies. 
Vanilla Ice Cream. Cakes. 



A CARD LUNCHEON 

After a morning at whist, one should 
have an appetite for the noon meal; let 
it be so delicious that the anxieties and 
disappointments of the game may be 
speedily forgotten! The table may be 
prettily laid with the usual doilies, and 
the flowers chosen chrysanthemums again, 
unless you fancy carrying out the red 
and black colours of the cards, when the 
plan suggested for the Musical Luncheon 
in January may be adopted, and red car- 
nations tied with narrow black ribbons 
may be laid by each plate, and dark 

201 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



chocolate bonbons may be in the little 
dishes around a centrepiece of red carna- 
tions. At each of the places may be a 
small box of cardboard in the shape of a 
heart, a club, a diamond, or a spade alter- 
nately, filled with bonbons. There are 
tin cutters which are in these same 
shapes, and the cakes and sandwiches may 
still further carry out the idea. The ices, 
too, are to be found at the caterer's in 
slices of white with the figures on them 
in colours, but you may make a white 
cream at home and serve it in paper boxes 
painted with the various figures around 
the edge, if you choose. 

Any one of the preceding menus may 
be used, or one may have something dif- 
ferent which yet reproduces the best 
dishes which have been suggested, espe- 
cially the delightful ice cream which was 
mentioned for one luncheon, with the 
maple sauce, one of the delicious things 
among new dishes. 



202 



Gala- Day Luncheons 



MENU 

Oyster Bisque. 
LoBSTEii Croquettes with Tomato Sauce. 

Mushroom Omelette. Hot Eolls. 

Fried Chicken in Cream Sauce. Potato 

Souffle. Asparagus Tips. 

Waldorf Salad. Cheese Sandwiches. 

French Vanilla Ice Cream with Maple Sauce. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The mushroom omelette is easily pre- 
pared by putting a mixture of chopped 
mushrooms and olives in a delicately 
browned omelette as it is folded over 
just before it is served ; there is nothing 
better in an egg dish than this. The 
salad is made by cutting rather sweet 
apples in bits and adding as much 
chopped celery and a stiff mayonnaise 
and laying on lettuce leaves; if English 
walnuts are added, the salad is entirely 
changed from the original, but it is 
thought quite as good by most persons ; 
the fact that these nuts are to be served 
in the dessert, however, gives reason for 

203 



Gala-Day Ltmcbeons 



omitting them from the mixture of apple 
and celery. If it is desired to have a 
sherbet for this luncheon, add it after 
the chicken, one of canned pineapple, or 
grape fruit, and have the final course a 
cream cheese with Bar-le-Duc currants 
and crackers, with the coffee ; the mix- 
ture of sweet and cheese seems odd to 
one who has not tried it, but it is war- 
ranted to give satisfaction. 



204: 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



ONE of the charming things about 
Christmas Day is the now cus- 
tomary late luncheon for the 
members of the family and the intimate 
friends who are afterwards expected to 
prolong their stay until the lighting of 
the tree at early candle-light. Men as 
well as women are invited to this holiday 
celebration, and the occasion is one of 
the happiest of the happy season. Of 
course the guests are chosen with an 
especially careful thought as to their 
congeniality, for Christmas is never the 
time for the payment of social obliga- 
tions, but rather for the fulfilment of 
the idea of peace and good-will, and 
comradeship must mark the keeping of 
the festival. 

205 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



This Christmas luncheon in no way 
conflicts with the family dinner which 
comes later in the day, but is a thing 
apart. The children join in this, even if 
they are too young to remain out of bed 
for the later meal, and will hugely enjoy 
the fun which marks it. 

A CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON 

The table shoald be arranged in scarlet, 
with holly to offset the more brilliant 
colour; in the centre should stand one 
of the diminutive Christmas trees, such as 
are to be had in the German toy shops ; 
they are artificial, and do not take fire 
from the candles, and have the additional 
advantage of lasting for years, as they 
fold up like an umbrella and may be 
tucked out of the way from one season 
to another. The pot in which this little 
tree stands is to be surrounded with a 
broad wreath of holly, lying on the table. 
The candles on the tree are to be scarlet, 
206 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



and they will sufficiently light the room 
except for the side lights on the wall. 
A narrow scarlet ribbon should extend 
from each plate to a little parcel lying at 
the foot of the tree, tied up with white 
tissue paper and scarlet ribbons, with a 
spray of holly attached, and at the close 
of the meal these ribbons are to be pulled 
by each guest and the gift opened ; here 
the fun of the Christmas luncheon begins, 
for these presents should in every case 
be some small joke on the recipient, and 
ingenuity and cleverness should be the 
price paid for them by the giver. If one 
has the knack of writing jingles, — and it 
is easily acquired, — the card bearing the 
verse is to accompany the gift, and the 
words must be read aloud for the enter- 
tainment of all. 

A young man who is addicted to the 
bad habit of Sunday golf might have a 
small plaid paper golf-bag, and a card 
with a picture of a golfer with his sticks, 
— this can be cut from an advertisement 

14 209 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



or catalogue, — and a rhyme something 
like this: — 

" Behold this young golfer so fit, 
Who his ball (or his caddie) doth hit. 
When six days in the week 
And the seventh day eke, 
To the links he doth eagerly flit." 

An enthusiastic young housekeeper 
might be given a set of small tin baking 
dishes with this jingle: — 

"This matron can cook wondrous well; 
Every recipe known she can tell ; 
She can roast, stew, and bake, 
Make marvellous cake. 
And her jelly will frequently ' jell.' " 

A pretty girl might have a pasteboard 
heart with the words written on it, ''A 
heart for the heartless," and this verse 
below : — 

"This maiden's an arrant young flirt; 
Her ways are both subtle and pert. 
Every man that she spies 
She looks on as a prize, 
And she cares not a fig for his hurt." 
210 



Gala-Day Ltmcheons 



A little practice will make perfect in 
writing similar ridiculous nonsense. 

The menu for this Christmas luncheon 
should be a very simple one in order not 
to impair the appetites for the Christmas 
goose, which will appear before many 
hours. 

MENU 

Bouillon. 

Scalloped Salmon. 

Duck Croquettes with Peas. Potato Puff. 

Celery Salad. Wafers. 

Individual Plum Puddings. 

Coffee. 

Of course if plum pudding is necessary 
to the Christmas dinner it must be dis- 
pensed with here, but if this is the one 
meal of the holiday when the children 
of the family are present, these small 
lighted puddings will give the greatest 
delight ; each one is to have a little spray 
of holly in the top and be sent to the 
table on fire ; as the alcohol is destroyed 

211 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



in the blaze, there can be no objection to 
its use on this occasion. 

After the final course a sleigh filled 
with candies may be brought in, with 
Santa Claus driving his team of reindeer, 
and this may be placed in state on one 




end of the table, or, if the little tree is 
not to be had for the central decoration, 
this toy may take its place, and stand in 
the centre all through the meal. 

Sometimes one wishes to give a formal 
luncheon for guests who are spending the 
Christmas holidays in the house; the 
ideas suggested for the tree, the presents, 

212 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the nonsense jingles, and the holly may 
all be used with perfect appropriateness, 
even if this comes either before or after 
the twenty-fifth. A Christmas luncheon 
speaks for itself, whenever it is given. 
For this you will need a rather elaborate 

MENU 

Whole Pineapple filled with Fruits. 

Clam Bisque. Hot Crackers. 

Whitebait. Brown Bread and Butter. 

Boiled Chicken, Oyster Sauce. 

Potatoes Creamed. 

Orange Sherbet in Holly Boxes. 

Tongue Salad. Olive Sandwiches. 

Individual Plum Puddings. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

Pineapple is in market all the year 
around in our cities, and at a price which 
varies little from the one in summer ; if, 
however, the fruit is not to be had, serve 
whole bananas chilled, each one lying on 
its side on a plate with a strip of skin re- 
moved, and lemon juice and powdered 
213 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



sugar over it ; it is to be eaten as bananas 
usually are now, with a spoon. 

The whitebait is a peculiarly delicious 
fish, and not an expensive one, for as it 
is very light, a pound will go a long way ; 
it is sprinkled with flour and fried in a 
wire basket in deep fat and served with 
a bit of lemon and thin strips of brown 

bread. Smelts or 
small pan fish 
may be substi- 
tuted for it, if it 
is not in one's 
market. Only 
the white meat 
of the chicken is to be used on the table 
in the next course, with a white sauce with 
oysters in it. The tongue salad is made 
by cutting canned lunch tongue into small 
pieces, covering with French dressing for 
an hour and laying on lettuce with may- 
onnaise over it; the sandwiches passed 
with this are made of chopped olives 
and a little mayonnaise on thin bread 

214 




Gala-Day Luncheons 



and butter. An ice cream may be used 
in the place of the puddings if they are 
not fancied, and the caterer can furnish 
small figures of Santa Glaus in coloured 
creams which are very attractive. 

In December there should be snow on 
the ground, whether there is or not ; cer- 
tainly except on the sea-coast there is apt 
to be. A luncheon all in white is appro- 
priate in winter in any case, but if your 
guests can look out on a white landscape, 
so much the better. This meal might 
precede a sleighing or skating party; 
as one skates in the city on artificial ice 
oftener than on that which forms natur- 
ally, this luncheon may be served, what- 
ever the weather, for a party of skaters. 

A SNOW LUNCHEON 

Lay the table all in white, with doilies 
and lace centrepiece, and white, unshaded 
candles, whose glow will save the table 
from looking cold. Have your flowers 

215 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



white carnations with just a touch of 
green among them, and your bonbons 
and crystallised fruits white also. The 
radishes are to be peeled, all but the least 
bit, and mixed with celery hearts in a 
long glass dish, or served by themselves, 
as you fancy. The mousse may be in 
white sugar cases, if you prefer these 
rather than the melon mould. 

MENU 

Cream of Chicken Soup. 

Time ALES of Cod. Oyster Sauce. 

Sweetbread Patties. 

Beefsteak a la Stanley. Creamed Potatoes. 

Celery Salad. White Mayonnaise. 

Cheese Straws. 

Whipped Cream Mousse. Snowball Cakes. 

Coffee with Whipped Cream. 

The beefsteak a la Stanley, said to have 
been invented by the African discoverer, 
is an odd dish for luncheon, but it is ex- 
tremely good, although one who has never 
eaten it would not be inclined to think 

216 



Gala-Day Liincheons 



SO; if served in small pieces is not too 
heavy for a winter's luncheon. 

A thick, tender sirloin steak is broiled 
and laid on a hot platter on a bed of horse- 
radish sauce made with the grated root, 
cream, and white bread crumbs; a layer 
of fried bananas is put on the meat after 
it has been seasoned, and over all, a thin 
layer of the sauce ; the root is then grated 
on top to look like long white ribbons, 
and the dish is served hot. Of course for 
a luncheon the steak must be cut in strips 
before the sauce is put on, or it will be 
a diificult matter to prevent its becoming 
mussy in cutting, but if the plates are 
prepared in the kitchen, the matter will 
be simple enough. To one who has never 
attempted this dish a suggestion might 
be given, — do not condemn it untried. 
The mousse is simply whipped cream 
which has been sweetened, flavoured 
with sherry, filled with candied fruit and 
nuts cut in small bits, and packed in a 
melon mould with ice and salt for four 

217 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



or five hours; it should be served on a 
bed of whipped cream. The snow-ball 
cakes have been suggested before; they 
are very pretty with this luncheon. 

As this menu is heartier than usual, no 
sherbet is given, for presumably there is 
enough to eat without it; if, however, 
just because it is hearty it is thought 
necessary to introduce a course of ice 
to refresh after the meat, an apricot ice 
made from canned fruit may be added. 



AN ANNOUNCEMENT LUNCHEON 

In announcing the engagement of a 
friend it is customary to do so with her 
permission at a luncheon given to her 
most intimate friends; she should in- 
deed make up the list with the hostess, 
limiting it to those who are entitled to 
hear the news directly. Of course if 
there are only a few, the luncheon 
should be an informal one, but if larger, 
218 



Gala-Day Luncheons 



the decorations and menu must be more 
elaborate. 

If none of those present have been 
entertamed at a Valentine luncheon on 
the order of the one already suggested, 
that may be followed almost exactly, 
as everything except the dove over 
the table is quite as appropriate for 
this meal as for 
that; if the 
guests are the 
same, then the 
decorations are 
to be altered 
more or less. 

Lay the table 
with lace doilies over pink silk; have 
several vases of pink roses on the table, 
and have all the sandwiches, cakes, and 
ices in heart shapes. Use arrows of stiff 
silver paper in the ices. Give heart- 
shaped boxes filled with heart-shaped 
candies to the guests, unless you care to 
invest in pretty little stick-pins with gold 
219 




Gala-Day Limcheons 



or silver, or coloured enamel hearts on 
the end. 

An appetising menu would be : — 

MENU 

Oysters on the Half-Shell. 

Bouillon. 

Fillet of Flounder. Sauce Tartare. 

Potato Balls. 

Chicken Livers on Skewers. 

Fillet of Beef, Sliced, with Mushroom Sauce. 

Potato Croquettes. 

Frozen Fruit in Candy Flowers. 

Devilled Eggs on Chiccory. Mayonnaise. 

Heart Sandwiches. 

Ice-Cream Hearts. Cakes. 

Coffee. Bonbons. 

The chicken livers are prepared by 
putting good-sized pieces of cooked livers 
on rather small wooden or silver skewers, 
alternating them with bits of thin bacon, 
putting them when ready in the frying- 
pan, and turning them till brown, and 
serving on toast with lemon. They are 
what is called en hrocliette in cook-books, 

220 



Gala-Day Limcheons 



a formidable name for a simple dish. 
Fillet of beef is really a dimier dish, yet 
it is seen not unfrequently at luncheons, 
sliced in the kitchen and put on the 
plates with a spoonful of mushroom 
sauce. The frozen fruit has been al- 
ready given, — a mixture of sliced oranges 
and bananas with a foamy sauce poured 
over; it is served in sherbet cups, or in 
candy flowers. 



221 






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